“Safety Compromises, Part 1” kicks off a new year-long series in National Bus Trader about types of transportation accidents that result from trade-offs of safety for other benefits: roughly half of all accidents seem to be the result of some deliberate safety compromise.
Each mode entails different safety compromises. And though NEMT, paratransit, and commuter bus and rail all have their own particularities, upon closer inspection, what they often share is a deliberate and often malicious character.
A number of factors affect the compromises common to various modes, system characteristics and operating dynamics ranging from financial constraints, political demands, inadequate regulations, social consciousness, and subpar deterrence from poor litigation. One huge factor applicable to all of them is the passengers’ and general public’s marginal understanding of safety, and/or the lack of concern about it. These articles give the general reader and legal professional alike a framework through which to look at not only traditional modes of transportation, but also the “disruptors” emerging from the new economy such as Uber and Lyft.
In the “Safety Compromises” series, Transportation Alternatives President Ned Einstein draws from decades of experience as a transportation service provider, consultant and expert witness with over 600 cases to help others in the field understand and interpret the origins of incidents that occur on a regular basis in a regulatory environment that struggles to keep up with the changing priorities of corporations and state agencies. Read “Safety Compromises, Part 1” and more of Mr. Einstein’s articles on issues related to safety and public transportation here.