Another “GPS-caused” Accident Reveals Response Challenges
You can read the details but essentially, a driver, blindly following his satnav got stuck on the railroad tracks in Bedford Hills, New York and a train hit the car. No one was hurt.
Two items of importance fall out of the story:
(1) The driver called 911 for help instead of the MTA number posted at the crossing. The MTA number currently includes letters and numbers, perhaps making it more difficult to call when under stress. The MTA is considering changing it to all letters. That’s probably a good move, but how are they going to get drivers (or anyone) who is panicked to call it over 911? The 911 operator who does receive such a call must then forward it to MTA officials sometimes losing precious time. In this case, the 911 call occurred one minute and the call from 911 to MTA happened in the next minute. That’s not too bad in my book.
(2) This is scary: “The state Department of Transportation and the Department of Motor Vehicles, the National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration do not keep statistics on GPS-related traffic accidents.” Why not? I think it’s time someone did! An MTA spokesperson noted 4 accidents at that crossing since 2000; the last two involved GPS devices.
