While we certainly don’t support the idea of cameras everywhere, we wholeheartedly support the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s decision to place cameras in Metro buses. These cameras will not be put in place to keep an eye on the passengers. Instead they will be there to record the drivers.
According to the story in The Washington Post:
“The new camera system focuses on drivers and activity outside the buses, transit officials said. The cameras record constantly during bus operations, and when a driver makes any extreme movement — such as turning the bus sharply or braking or accelerating quickly — the cameras capture the eight seconds before the incident and the four seconds after. The video and audio of the incident are then automatically downloaded wirelessly from the bus.”
If anybody needed this monitoring system, it would be the WMATA. Bus drivers in the Washington Area have a less than stellar driving record. Over the past few years there have been several high profile bus accidents involving injuries and fatalities, which is not something that should be considered normal in a public transit agency.
Just consider these incidents that have occurred in the past few years:
On Valentine’s Day in 2007, Martha Schoenborn and Sally McGhee were hit and killed by a Metro Bus on the corner of Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. The two Alexandria residents had the right of way in the crosswalk.
In 2008, a Metro bus rolled into an apartment building in Alexandria.Considering the size and weight of your average city bus, it is a miracle that nobody was injured.
Amanda Mahnke, a 30 year old staffer for a Congressman, was jogging near her home in Northwest when an empty bus hit her. She suffered severe injuries.
About two weeks ago, a Metro bus was involved in a hit and run accident in Arlington. The bus driver hit a car at the intersection of Fairfax Drive and Glebe Road, and then made an illegal right turn getting away from the scene.
And these are only a few of the crashes that WMATA bus drivers have been involved with. And if you consider the multiple reports of WMATA bus drivers who were caught texting while driving, regardless of Metro’s zero-tolerance policy on texting while driving, the idea of Metro taking serious steps to regulate the safe conduct of its bus operators is long overdue. Passenger safety should be the primary concern of any public transit system, and recent events have shown that WMATA is not succeeding in its primary objective.
Greenberg and Bederman is a personal injury law firm located in Silver Spring, Maryland. We are currently offering legal assistance to those who have been injured due to negligent behavior on the part of public transit employees, and that includes those who have been injured in collisions with city buses.
If you or a loved one has been injured due to a transit system accident in Washington, D.C, Maryland or Virginia, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal consultation today.