Driver killed in monorail crash....

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I can not believe it when I first heard this news, because this was the 1st time in 38 years that there has ever been a serious accident at Walt Disney World involving the Monorail. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Cast Members family and friends.

 

[PrincessNP]

if in fact the aformentioned scenario is true, it changes all that we have been thinking. The control area, or "Central" as I am seeing it referred to, is a major player here. There is certainly a lot to be looked out from an accident standpoint. I do think they will be able to figure out what happened which will make things safer for all of us in the furture.

This is certainly a tragic event. It is still much safer to be on a monorail than many other forms of transportation. Hard to believe there are not more Disney bus accidents given the total control of the driver in those situations.

We will praying for the young man's family who lost his life today.

 

[geenerbell]

This is an awful, awful tragedy and my heart goes out to the CM as well as his family.

If the account provided is true and pink backed into purple and purple was unable to move, it would explain everything. And I'm wondering if perhaps purple couldn't back-up because people were getting onto or off of it. If that was the case, it would mean Austin sacrificed his life to save the lives of the guests boarding or deboarding his train. Because there was a family on board, it would seem that perhaps they had just boarded.

That was my thought exactly. It is posssible that he didn't move because the train was loading or unloading in which case he did sacrifice himself so others could avoid injury or death. Prayers for his family.

 

[Orangeandwild]

This is such a sad day for the Disney Parks and all of us who love Disney here. My heart goes out to the family of the man killed in such a horrible manner and all others involved in the accident.

 

[Doc CW]

Thoughts and prayers are with the CM and the family.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

The story is one the front of msn.com and says the driver of the other monorail was taken to the hospital not neccessarily because of injuries but being emotionally distraught. We need to remember him in our thoughts and prayers too. I'm sure this is awful for him.

 

[phisigprincess]

I texted my friend who is a former monorail CM this morning with the news and he told me that I must have heard wrong, because there are so many safety precautions in place to prevent that he didn't think it could happen. He called a few CMs that he still knows in the department and heard the same thing that bcvprincess posted previously, so that's probably close to the truth.

I'm so very sad over this whole thing. So many prayers being sent to those involved.

 

[ECU Pirates]

While a great deal of the monorail system is automated there is still a large amount of the system that is controlled by humans.

A relative of mine is a cast member, and is a monorail supervisor who works in the control tower that is located in the station where the accident occured. My relative would typically have been the person who was dispatching the trains, but thanks to seniority was not working yesterday, but was on vacation.

Having had the opportunity to visit my relative in the control tower I know how seriously Disney takes safety. Even though the goal is to move as many people as quickly as possible my relative will not compromise safety and I would like to think that anyone else who was working in the control tower would feel the same way.

I have tried to contact my relative today, but I imagine that they are on the way back to Orlando from the family reunion that we had out of state yesterday.

 

[a1tinkfans]

 

[FINFAN]

wow, just read this...how awful. Another to Heaven.

 

[bytheblood]

My prayers are with all who are are affected by this unfortunate incident. May God bring each of them comfort during this difficult time.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

A note from the Theme Parks board moderators:

At this sad time, we felt it was best to delete the thread linking to the crash video. We ask that all posters show respect for all parties involved in this terrible tragedy and not repost the link here. Thank you.

 

[DisneyDadof3]

A note from the Theme Parks board moderators:

At this sad time, we felt it was best to delete the thread linking to the crash video. We ask that all posters show respect for all parties involved in this terrible tragedy and not repost the link here. Thank you.

This thread should then also be deleted then as the pictures are in similar taste!

 

[zeroed]

This thread should then also be deleted then as the pictures are in similar taste!

I agree.

Let's ban the words "monorail" and "Disney" also.... at least for the next 26 weeks anyway.

Do it for the children.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

The driver was 21... something had to have happend..

 

[AnneR]

But it was initially thought to be the reason why they crashed in DC until they found out the real cause.

There may have been some people including the media who speculated that texting was involved. The official investiagation quickly discovered that the driver had acted appropriately by engaging the emergency break and may have possibly saved lives because of her actions.

As with the DC accident, I think that we should not speculate about what happened but let the investigators do their work. We may just learn that the driver did all they could.

 

[gingermommy94]

So sad

My thoughts and prayers are with the families, friends, and fellow cast members during this difficult time.

 

[DisneyDadof3]

I agree.

Let's ban the words "monorail" and "Disney" also.... at least for the next 26 weeks anyway.

Do it for the children.

I do think my statement was slightly misunderstood. I do not want the video thread deleted, but there was nothing offensive about the video post. It was posted with warnings. View at your own discretion. I do believe that if we're eliminating the video thread, then the pics ought to go as well to be consistent.

 

[shasess]

Our prayers go out to Austin's family and loved ones as well as the family of Disney cm's.

I am bothered though by the fingerpointing assuming this guy was texting or anything else that caused it. I think his family has enough grief without him being blamed when we have no idea. Let the family mourn without the blame game.

Our prayers go out to Austin's family and loved ones.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Once the Monorail system does re-open will the news of the crash make anyone think twice about sitting in the front car with the Monorail driver? I can see others no longer wanting to do that because of the shock and etc, however we should also not be scared of sitting in the front and realize the accident was something no one thought would happen.