As a sleep apnea sufferer, I can say that it is very important to be screened and treated for this for all. It is very under-diagnosed. And you don't need to be overweight to have it, it has to do with having a narrowed airway and this can present even in thin people. We need more public awareness of sleep apnea. Driving tired is as dangerous as driving drunk.
Absolutely, any one driving the public should get regular checkups and be screened for sleep apnea.
Getting rid of regulations without any idea of the consequences is bad, but the scariest part of the article was this sentence:
“We have accidents with two people in the cab all the time,” he said.
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Trump’s and his deregulatory regime are guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
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Sleep apnea is one of those "conditions" that may or may not exist. I was diagnosed with it, but show my test results to other doctors who said "nonsense." Same thing happened to other friends.
Aside from that there a lots of reasons that people don't sleep enough or conditions where they can fall asleep at the controls. (e.g. sick child up all night, spouse who tosses and turns, stress for thousands of reasons)
You can't control for all the possible causes. Let's get the technology in place that can prevent the accidents.
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The engineer was morbidly obsess and had gained 90 pounds in 3 months yet his employers took no notice and let him put lives at risk. Don't employers in an industry where people's safety is on the line have a duty to their customers and their employees? What happens at the airline with this same scenario? If a pilot gains a lot of weight suddenly or seems to be in some kind of distress does his employer stop and say: Maybe we should talk to this person and find something out?
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Why would anyone think that the haphazard elimination of safety protocols is good for anyone?
Here is a perfect example of a situation where no one benefits.
The cost to the railroad operator to test employees is certainly outweighed by the costs of the accidents.
The cost to the employees and the public is the loss of life and limb due to the accidents. Loses that can never be compensated for.
No one benefits from eliminating this regulation, so why was the proposed rule taken off the table?
The only reason I can imagine is Obama Derangement Syndrome; if Obama promoted it, it has to be rescinded.
People have died as a result of this insane policy decision.
The blame should be laid at the feet of this administration.
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Owat, it is incumbent for any company or organization to be sure their employees operate safely, in a safe environment. We've many agencies and laws that mandate this common sense policy and all the laws that followed. There is NO NEED to dictate who should be screened for what by the Federal government. This law is over-reach and PS, if you read the article, would have done nothing to stop these tragic crashes.
I want to know if it is true that President Trump does not want to screen engineers for sleep apnea? I must know if that is really a truth?
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The article says " At a hearing in Washington on Tuesday, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said he was “mystified” by the withdrawal last year of a proposed federal rule on screening train crews for sleep apnea." What do you need to know for you to know it's true that the Trump administration has reversed the proposal that the previous administration put forth? See if you can find it on a federal website (although I doubt you can because the present administration keeps removing things from government websites). Maybe you can call your Senator/Congress person to verify. Just face the fact that Trump does not care really as long as the big money people make out. You think his kids take commuter trains or any trains? Maybe you are just being sarcastic WITH YOUR POST AND I'm MISSING THE POINT?
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The positive train control waivers should be the focus of this story, no matter what narrative NJT and LIRR are trying to spin with sleep apnea-driven fatigue. Sure, screen for sleep apnea and other sleep inhibiting conditions, especially in jobs where the worker has the potential to endanger others. But also put in place safety measures that will provide backup -- not all fatigue is caused by sleep apnea.
I ride the LIRR in and out of Atlantic Terminal every day. Shame on the LIRR (and therefore the MTA) and NJT for being years behind in implementing critical safety technology. But then again, I guess I'm not surprised.
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Women can have obstructive sleep apnea too. If you’re not too sleepy to have read the fine details in this news report, then you’ve missed the point. It’s about sleep apnea, notwithstanding other separate contributors to rail accidents.
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Don't forget to include the December 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment. The engineer was also diagnosed with sleep apnea.
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This is why you don't throw out tons of regulations without any kind of conversation regarding potential impact.
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We appreciate that the article noted that the requirement for checking sleep apnea was rescinded due to concerns over excessive regulation. One might suggest that apnea is associated with 'metabolic syndrome', which may be increasing.
It may also be a good idea to have somebody develop a software system that interfaces with the train instrumentation, and requires an engineer to log in information (a pre-flight plan) at the outset, so that the computer can monitor progress, and offer corrective advice, and alarms. Since the routes rarely change, the computations should be quite manageable.
Although the inertia and scale of trains are vast, the navigational requirements are trivial compared with those for "automated cars".
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Metabolic syndrome or shmetabolic syndrome: Obstructive sleep apnea is treatable. Isn’t that the main point?
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There never was a regulation, and therefore it was never rescinded. Unbelievable how few people can think critically or even read basic words. And screening would not have stopped these accidents as they were already screening on their own (no need for a regulation about everything - it is illegal for anyone to operate equipment when they are compromised, or when they are not capable of keeping themselves or others safe. That is the law, and there are many that duplicate it due to the preponderance of agencies that have overlapping roles but do not communicate with each other.
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