emergency button + unmanned skytrain = pelham 123

Are you stupid... did you even read the article?


I believe that yellow strip has always been just a silent alarm to call for
translink staff, who will meet you at the next stop.

In any case, even if there was an emergency stop button, I doubt anyone
would have reacted fast enough. Natural reaction when you see something
like this would probably be to tell the blind owner that her dog was stuck
outside the train, rather than to think about an emergency stop button.
And there was probably less than 10 seconds to react from the time the doors
shut to when the dog got pulled into the pole.

poor dog, glad to hear that it's ok

Translink has a comittee of people with disabilities of all sorts who go around and test all the systems to see if things work out for them. How long has skytrain been around now and this has never happened?
They interviewed one of these blind comittee members and even he said he's never heard of a sight dog running off the train on it's own and he always keeps the dog within arms reach.

Let's also consider the thickness of a leash. It's relatively insignificant, so to say it should have triggered the door is unrealistic. (If the "H" bar handle caight that's a different matter) the dog ran next to the door as the train moved therefore no pressure on the door strip. If those door strips were any more sensitive or switched to a sonic/light barrier system just look at the new B-line buses. the rear doors are constantly cycling when the bus is packed cause people are standing right against the doors.

The yellow strip is just a silent alarm for an attendant/some form of assistance to respond at the next station. there is no way to bring the skytrain to a halt quickly in an emergency.
As stupid as kids are these days I can see a lot of trouble with that kind of button. Not that there shouldn't be one.

While I have sympathy for the owner, and even more for the dog, this is a case of either poor dog training or the owner not keeping track of their dog.
I think this should just be chalked up as a tragic accident.
If translink wishes to donate some money as a goodwill gesture even better.

They have them on the Canada Line, its a big red button near the door with a breakable piece of plastic covering it. There are also buttons on each station as well, in those panels where the emergency phone is etc.

Yup, totally agree.

As sad as people might be that this involved a blind lady and a guide dog, she has a responsiblity to control the dog and TransLink's safety system is adequate. It was an accident.

Like I said, TransLink should pay the vet bill and get some good publicity out of it - makes the best out of a bad situation.

Reading fail. The dog never hit the sensors, and the train never stopped until it reached the next station.

That bothers me even more that no one was able to do anything on the train to get the train stopped before the next station.

I still think the blind lady could have done more to prevent this from happening, but at the same time I think all the passengers that were near the door fail too.

I think there is more to this story than the lady leads onto.

Nvm

I was going by the story on last night's News Hour, where they said the train stopped when the dog hit the tracks.

:(

poor dog. makes me cringe just thinking what happened to it.

In one article I read this afternoon, apparently a crowd of people coming in or going out separated the lady and the guide dog. They got in the way. It was only when the lady realized that the door was closing and her dog was not beside her that she let go of the leash for safety reasons. Because of this, the Pacific Assistance Dogs Society is saying people need to be educated on how to behave around guide dogs and their owners and they need to stay their distance to prevent stuff like this from happening. Really sad situation.

People also need to be better educated on proper boarding procedure. If you're getting on, LET PEOPLE GET OFF FIRST. (Not saying she didn't, but there always seems to be a mess of people trying to get on and off at the same time, and that causes problems too).

Didn't you know pulling out doesn't work?

My mother used to train these dogs, they are supposed to stay at the owners side.

I am by no means blaming the blind woman or the dog or Translink. Maybe she tried pulling the leash to bring the dog back and the dog was unresponsive. Shit happens, this is just an unfortunate accident.

If that is what happened then people suck.

Update:

http://www.news1130.com/news/local/a...og-s-vet-bills

Unfortunately, as much of a good PR move it would be, TransLink is probably right in this. From their perspective, nothing was wrong with the system, and bucking up in this case would set a dangerous precedent: imagine if they did pay, and some idiot decided a good way to get some fast cash would be to get a dog, and leave it hanging out the door to get dragged the same way.

Not being a jerk but have u try to take the skytrain during rush hours? If you wait and be polite you will never get on. The ppl behind or around you would simply push and shovel their way. If only transitlink have more trains running during rush hours.........

^yeah, i always let people off first, but certain times/stations, require you to be a bit more pushy.

i skytrain to VCC Clark station in the mornings. i get off at commercial drive so people behind me can get out (because thats where EVERYONE gets off at). sometimes i dont make it back in that train >;(

i know certain popular stations already leave doors open longer, but sometimes its still not long enough ;s

Agreed. It's always the international students/fobs too. I work downtown and everytime I get to the skytrain station, it's every man for himself. When I first started working, I would try to be courteous and let people who have been there before me on first and try to catch the next train if the current one was getting full.

Now I realize there's no point in doing that because fobs start pouring into the stations, they'll walk right in front of you even if you've been standing at the same spot since the last train left regardless of how close you are to the edge. They'll push through everyone and everything to get into the train even if there's barely enough room to fit a book.. doesn't matter if they cause the doors to open and close for 5 minutes.

The worst is when people carry fucking bricks in their backpack or something and start spinning around. God damnit.

+1 If you tell them their backpack is in your way they fucking ignore you and continue to yak on their cell phones.