Driver killed in monorail crash....

[MickeyP]

Hmmmm, I didn't think about families that ride in the cabin. We have several monorail licenses.
My prayers go out to the familiy.

 

[mamalle]

that is extremely disturbing to hear. 2am is what I heard on our local south fla news.. They are lucky noone else was killed by the looks of it. very sad indeed..

 

[ChristusG]

Oh my word!!!! How terrible!!! Gosh....I've ridden those things so many times over the past 29 years. I never even would have imagined. It's just such a shock to hear that.

 

[MinnieLee]

With all the safety precautions, I am so surprised that this happened. My sympathy to the driver's family and thoughts to the other driver and the passengers. It is something we never gave a thought to happening and a shock to WDW.

 

[rsimon]

I wonder if the driver wasn't already incapacitated already (heart attack or something). Just seems like it would be too difficult to slam into another train full-speed unless something really unusual happened...

When we rode in the front last time, the driver told us that the system automatically shuts the train down if it gets too close to another one and the driver fails to stop.

In order for this to happen, it seems that there would have been several failures in their system and the driver would have had to been in a situation where they didn't have a clue the train was in front of them.

 

[Caitsmama]

How terrible, my dh just told me about this - and my inlaws are down there now, so i will have to call them later today..

 

[Mickey1Fan]

My Mom just called and told me about this tragedy. It is so very sad. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved and the investigators who have to piece together what happened.

 

[supersuperwendy]

What sad news to wake up to this morning.

 

[fla4fun]

don't you have to keep your hand on the throttle to move the train? if so, a heart attack or falling asleep aren't likely i'd imagine. the train should have stopped in plenty of time with all of the visual indicators if something did incapacitate the driver. when monorails stop due to traffic, you can't even really see the train in front. and in the case of the TTC, all the more reason to wonder given how well it'd be lit.

When I have ridden in the front, they have moved the control, but it stayed at a particular speed without their hand on it. Then they would put their hand back on and move it to change speed. So if it was going on the straightaway from Epcot, and something happened to the driver, it may not have slowed down. I would have thought the automatic systems would have overridden it though - and I'm surprised it didn't. A big clue will be what the other passengers say about the ride, and whether the monorail slowed at all making that turn toward the TTC. I think that will be the biggest change - I bet they really beef up the automatic safety systems.

My thoughts and prayers go to the family of the CM, and to the families who were on the monorail at the time.

 

[29apr00]

It's just so sad....my thoughts are with the family.

 

[marathonmommy]

Horrible news . . . I'm sure we will get the details here as they become available.

 

[jmkrat]

How very sad, I stopped in my tracks when I heard this on the news. My thoughts and prayers are with the family and the driver's fellow cm's.

 

[1osfan]

We have been planning our first trip for the past couple of months and worrying about getting ADRs and how to manage the July/August heat. Hearing something like this really puts things into perspective for me. My prays go out to the CM's family.

 

[Alexander]

Absolute Shock! I was under the impression that all of the trains (monorail, WDW Railroad) had automatic braking systems! They couldn't get too close to the other trains, the system would automatically apply the breaks! Wow!

 

[Px4]

When I have ridden in the front, they have moved the control, but it stayed at a particular speed without their hand on it. Then they would put their hand back on and move it to change speed. So if it was going on the straightaway from Epcot, and something happened to the driver, it may not have slowed down. I would have thought the automatic systems would have overridden it though - and I'm surprised it didn't. A big clue will be what the other passengers say about the ride, and whether the monorail slowed at all making that turn toward the TTC. I think that will be the biggest change - I bet they really beef up the automatic safety systems.

My thoughts and prayers go to the family of the CM, and to the families who were on the monorail at the time.

Ditto to above.

Also, when riding with the driver late at night in the middle of what seemed to be a monsoon last June, you couldn't see anything. The driver told us that its common, but there were sensors all over the track that help monitor incase he missed something. So, it does seem really odd that those did not take over.

They are saying the other driver was taken to the hospital with injuries also. So sad for all involved!

 

[tweedlemom]

Grieving for all affected by this tragedy...

 

[kaffinito]

Oh how awful! My thoughts are with the drivers family.

 

[jenseib]

How sad.

 

[labdogs42]

More prayers going up for the driver and his family. What a terrible thing to have happen.

 

[happygirl]

My prayers ans thoughts go up to all those involved