Last week, our blog highlighted the California Public Utilities Commission report accusing the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency of regularly committing explicit passenger safety violation. The report revealed a variety of issues, including track defects and problems with the subway train control system.
In the midst of MUNI’s struggle to defend their safety record, a new accident took place last week which sent six passengers to the hospital. The MUNI accident occurred when the public transportation vehicle collided with a big-rig truck while operating along the KT-Ingleside/Third Street line. Investigators have yet to fully determine whether the MUNI operator or the truck driver was at fault.
The crash occurred in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood on Monday morning after the morning rush hour commute. According to a MUNI spokesman, the big rig truck stuck the MUNI vehicle on its right side, damaging the bus and injuring six passengers.
Officers from the San Francisco Fire Department arrived at the scene and transported the six injured victims to a local hospital. Representatives from the Fire Department later stated that the victims, fortunately, suffered only minor injuries and were all expected to live.
MUNI service resumed as normal an hour after the crash, but this latest smear across the public transportation organization’s safety record is not as easily forgotten. Even though initial reports indicate that the big rig driver may have been at fault for the collision, police investigators have not confirmed exactly how the accident occurred. San Francisco citizens will have to wait and see whether this accident was the result of a trucker’s careless driving, a MUNI failure to protect the safety of its passengers, or a combination of the two.
Source: SF Appeal, “Reports: Big Rig ‘T-Boned’ Muni Metro Train.” 21 March 2011