Believe it or not, operators of heavy vehicles are 23 times more likely to experience a safety critical event compared to a non-distracted operator when texting while operating. This represents a much higher statistic than drivers who are operating light vehicles (only 2.8 times more likely to experience a safety critical event).
Below is an article about the 2008 Chatsworth Train Collision, which killed 25 people on September 12, because the train operator was sending text messages.
The 2008 Chatsworth train collision occurred at 16:22 PDT (23:22 UTC) on Friday September 12, 2008, when a Union Pacific freight train and a Metrolink commuter train collided head-on in the Chatsworth district of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. The scene of the accident was a curved section of single track on the Metrolink Ventura County Line just east of Stoney Point.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigated the cause of the collision, the Metrolink train ran through a red signal before entering a section of single track where the opposing freight train had been given the right of way by the train dispatcher. The NTSB faulted the Metrolink train's engineer for the collision, concluding that he was distracted by text messages he was sending while on duty.
Metrolink commuter train 111, consisting of a 250,000-pound (113,000 kg) EMD F59PH locomotive (SCAX 855) pulling three Bombardier BiLevel Coaches, departed Union Station in downtown Los Angeles at 15:35 PDT (22:35 UTC) heading westbound to Moorpark in suburban Ventura County. Approximately 40 minutes later, it departed the Chatsworth station with 222 people aboard, and had traveled approximately 1.25 miles (2 km) when it collided head-on with an eastbound Union Pacific local freight train. The freight train was led by two SD70ACe locomotives, UP 8485 and 8491, weighing more than 500,000 pounds (227,000 kg) each. The Metrolink locomotive telescoped into the passenger compartment of the first passenger car and caught fire. All three locomotives, the leading Metrolink passenger car and seven freight cars, were derailed, and both lead locomotives and the passenger car fell over.
The collision occurred after the Metrolink passenger train engineer, 46-year-old Robert M. Sanchez, apparently failed to obey a red, stop signal that indicated it was not safe to proceed into the single track section. The train dispatcher's computer at a remote control center in Pomona did not display a warning prior to the accident according to the NTSB. Metrolink initially reported that the dispatcher tried in vain to contact the train crew to warn them; but the NTSB contradicted this report, saying the dispatcher noticed a problem only after the accident, and was notified by the passenger train's conductor first.
Both trains were moving toward each other at the time of the collision. At least one passenger on the Metrolink train reported seeing the freight train moments before impact, coming around the curve. The conductor of the passenger train, who was in the rear car and was injured in the accident, estimated that his train was traveling at 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) before it suddenly came to a dead stop after the collision. The NTSB reported that it was traveling at 42 miles per hour (68 km/h). The freight was traveling at approximately the same speed after its engineer triggered the emergency air brake only two seconds before impact, while the Metrolink engineer never applied the brakes on his train.
The events on September 12, 2008 leading up to the collision (all times local):
05:54 Engineer Sanchez begins his 11-hour split shift.
06:44 Sanchez begins his morning run.
08:53 Sanchez finishes his morning run after exchanging 45 text messages while en route.
09:26 Sanchez finishes the first part of his shift and goes off duty.
14:00 Sanchez returns to work after reportedly taking a two-hour nap.
15:03 Sanchez begins his afternoon run.
15:30 Sanchez uses his cell phone to order a roast beef sandwich from a restaurant in Moorpark.
15:35 Metrolink train #111 departs Union Station with Sanchez at the controls of locomotive #855.
16:13 The signal north of the Chatsworth station is set to red to hold the Metrolink train.
16:16 Train #111 is scheduled to depart Chatsworth station with the next stop in Simi Valley.
16:21:03 Sanchez receives a seventh text message while en route.
16:22:01 Sanchez sends the last of five text messages while en route, 22 seconds before impact.
16:22:19 The locomotive crews can first see each other 4 seconds before impact.
16:22:21 The Union Pacific freight engineer triggers the emergency brake 2 seconds before impact.
16:22:23 The trains collide after Sanchez ran through a track switch and did not apply the brakes.
Basic aftermath: Initially the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) originally dispatched a single engine company with a four person crew for a “possible physical rescue” at a residential address near the scene in response to a 9-1-1 emergency call from home. The crew arrived at the address four minutes later, just before 16:30 PDT and accessed the scene by cutting through the backyard fence. Upon arrival, the captain immediately called for an additional five ambulances and 30 fire engines and every heavy duty search and rescue unit in the city. Hundreds of emergency workers were involved in the rescue effort.
Austin Walbridge, a train passenger, describes the incident by saying: “Bloody, a mess. Just a disaster. It was horrible.” Emergency responders described the victims as having crush type injuries. Dr. Amal K. Obaid, a trauma surgeon who practices at USC University Hospital where several victims were treated, described their injuries in more detail, "They have head injuries, multiple facial fractures, chest trauma, collapsed lungs, rib fractures, pelvic fractures, leg and arm fractures, cuts in the skin and soft tissue. Some have blood in the brain."
Trains derailed, massive damage caused by head-on collision
Last known text message sent: “yea… usually @ north camarillo”
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