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MUNI Streetcar-SUV Accident Leaves Six Injured in San Francisco

An accident involving a San Francisco MUNI streetcar with a SUV has left six people injured.  The accident occurred on Monday during the evening commute. A streetcar rear-ended the sports utility vehicle, crushing it against the back of another streetcar that had stopped in traffic.

According to witnesses, the driver of a historic orange streetcar was talking to a passenger when the streetcar hit a Silver Nissan Pathfinder SUV. Several of the passengers in the streetcar were thrown to the floor of the MUNI. The SUV was crushed against another streetcar that had stopped in front. The front and back of the car were heavily crushed, but the middle section was undamaged. The driver of the SUV and the driver of streetcar were taken to the hospital for treatment. None of the injuries have been reported to be serious. Three other people in the MUNI streetcar suffered minor injuries, and received treatment at the scene.

According to witness reports, it seems that the driver of the MUNI was distracted just before the accident.  This accident comes just two weeks after another serious accident involving a MUNI streetcar. In that particular accident, the driver told investigating officers that he blacked out just before the crash.

Accidents involving MUNI streetcars have become all too frequent. In fact, the safety problems involving MUNI streetcars have become so severe that top MUNI officials themselves are now expressing the urgent need for enhancements. MUNI chief Nathaniel Ford said, in a statement released soon after the accident, that he found the crash “intolerable and deeply frustrating”. He also says that the accident proves that on going efforts to enhance MUNI’s safety are ”clearly more urgent than ever.”

The streetcar crash is the latest in a series of public transportation accidents involving distracted drivers.  Earlier this year, 50 people were injured in an accident involving a trolley car in Boston. The trolley operator in that crash was apparently text messaging at the time of the accident.

Late last year, an accident involving a Metrolink train and a Union Pacific freight train killed 25 people and left dozens of people injured. That train accident has been traced to text messaging by the operators of both the trains.

Earlier this year, a Washington DC Metro train crash injured at least 60 people. That accident has, so far, not been linked to driver inattention, but the Metro has since then had several instances where train operators were texting at the controls. Several alert passengers have captured video footage of DC Metro train operators texting or using their cell phones at the controls of the train.

Distracted driving by public transportation operators is a more serious problem than we know, and we only seem to hear about this when there is an accident, like the one that occurred here. That the passengers in the SUV were able to walk away from the accident without life threatening injuries, is extremely fortunate. This could have been a far greater tragedy. If it is confirmed that the driver of the streetcar was distracted talking to a passenger at the time of the crash, then MUNI needs to look into its driver training, and figure out how operators can be properly trained to minimize the risk of accidents.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of train accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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