# Glasgow and New York crashes **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 1, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222 "2013-12-01T18:47:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/41 "2013-12-03T00:08:23Z")
Both, but I heard about the Glasgow crash first, but I don’t remember which media outlet. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/42 "2013-12-03T04:44:01Z")
The update today was that the train was going 83mph in a 30mph zone. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/43 "2013-12-03T04:48:58Z")
Shit! :eek: Just a bit too fast, then. That’s horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/44 "2013-12-03T06:19:27Z")
I always wonder about these train wrecks that result from going too fast. What on earth could the engineer or driver or whatever they call him be thinking? They’re almost always experienced. Why do they think it’s okay to go so fast? ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/45 "2013-12-03T08:56:28Z")
Apparently the driver claims that he tried to slow the train down but the brakes didn’t work. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/46 "2013-12-03T09:09:42Z")
They should be able to determine if that’s true. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/47 "2013-12-03T13:05:36Z")
I did hear about both, and to tell the truth was a little surprised at how big a headline the copter crash was…awful situation though (my condolences)…i mean there are small plane crashes all the time here. Was even a helicopter crash on a hosp heli pad here a couple years ago, rotors chopping up everything on the roof, people killed. Didn’t make the headlines outside the state though afaik… ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/48 "2013-12-03T13:57:13Z")
I just read something more elaborated. The driver admits that he had been daydreaming and didn’t start braking until it was too late, but still maintains that the brakes didn’t work properly. All this makes me wonder, is the line not equipped with an [ATC](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Train_Control). ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/49 "2013-12-03T14:30:48Z")
I heard about both. The Glasgow one was shocking as the EU seems to have great helicopter safety and it seems a tragic shame that the mechanical malfunction brought it down on such a public place. _(Near NYC, helicopters drop into the Hudson every few months. There’s a big public outcry for safety and some pol makes speeches, but the next week when its out of the news money must change hands, because they’re all back up and running like garment district sweat shops. I always figured that the regular killing off of rich stupid people taking unsafe skyline tours around Manhattan was just Darwinism at play.)_ The train crash was unfortunate, but predictable. The engineer was speeding (Who would speed while driving a train of their own volition? Maybe someone being pressured to run the trains on time? The guy applying the pressure will never be disciplined though.) and it has been reported that when he applied the brakes, they failed. If he lied about that, he’s very foolish as there is a black box that tracks exactly that and He Knows It. So, he probably didn’t lie and the brakes probably did fail (we’ll know soon enough either way). Failing brakes are a mechanical failure; its usually caught by regular maintenance and regular part replacement. Train budgets are always being cut while parts & labor prices never go down; its a little game politicians like to play. Next Fall, some Bozo will probably run for office with big radio ads saying he cut the budget XX%. I’m sure that the ads won’t say he did it by pressuring people in Transit to make brakes on trains optional… ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/50 "2013-12-04T03:03:09Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > The train crash was unfortunate, but predictable. The engineer was speeding … and it has been reported that when he applied the brakes, they failed. If he lied about that, he’s very foolish as there is a black box that tracks exactly that and He Knows It. > So, he probably didn’t lie and the brakes probably did fail (we’ll know soon enough either way). An emergency braking maneuver not stopping/slowing a train in time is not the same as a brake failure. The brakes worked, but it was too little too late. The driver admits that he had nodded off. > **[Train Engineer Was Dazed Before Crash, Lawyer Says (Published 2013)](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/nyregion/metro-north-investigation-turns-to-engineers-inattention.html?hp&_r=0)** > > The engineer who operated the Metro-North train that derailed in the Bronx suffered what his lawyer referred to as “highway hypnosis” before the accident. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/51 "2013-12-04T16:45:02Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > An emergency braking maneuver not stopping/slowing a train in time is not the same as a brake failure. The brakes worked, but it was too little too late. > > The driver admits that he had nodded off. > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/nyregion/metro-north-investigation-turns-to-engineers-inattention.html?hp&\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/nyregion/metro-north-investigation-turns-to-engineers-inattention.html?hp&_r=0) Its horrible either way. I knew it wasn’t alcohol or drugs: random drug tests. If he’d collapsed, deadman’s switch. He was heard stating he pulled the brakes. Who’d have thought sleep? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/52 "2013-12-04T19:49:39Z")
Along with New York and Glasgow, an airplane heading from Mozambique to Namibia [crashed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAM_Mozambique_Airlines_Flight_470) that same day, killing 33 people. I didn’t hear about it at all in the US media, until I read Wikipedia today. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/53 "2013-12-04T19:55:54Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Along with New York and Glasgow, an airplane heading from Mozambique to Namibia [crashed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAM_Mozambique_Airlines_Flight_470) that same day, killing 33 people. I didn’t hear about it at all in the US media, until I read Wikipedia today. I hadn’t heard about that one either - but just to clarify, they didn’t all happen on the same day. Mozambique and Glasgow were Friday, New York’s crash was Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/54 "2013-12-04T22:48:46Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Along with New York and Glasgow, an airplane heading from Mozambique to Namibia [crashed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAM_Mozambique_Airlines_Flight_470) that same day, killing 33 people. I didn’t hear about it at all in the US media, until I read Wikipedia today. > [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > I hadn’t heard about that one either - but just to clarify, they didn’t all happen on the same day. Mozambique and Glasgow were Friday, New York’s crash was Sunday. I hears about the plane crash, but BBC International tends to be pretty thorough reporting these things. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222/55 "2013-12-12T17:55:53Z")
A tenth person has died after the Clutha crash, [Joe Cusker](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-25352971)from Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-and-new-york-crashes/675222.md?page=2)