REVscene Automotive Forum - Guide dog dragged from SkyTrain suffered 'serious injuries'

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Guide dog dragged from SkyTrain suffered 'serious injuries'

Quote:

A blind woman’s guide dog who was seriously injured after being dragged by the SkyTrain will recover but likely will not be able to work with the blind again, a TransLink spokesman said on Sunday.

Ken Hardie said the incident happened around 10:30 a.m. Thursday when the SkyTrain stopped at the Lougheed Station platform and for some unknown reason the dog disembarked the train while the woman did not.

Riders watched in horror as the door closed and the dog started running along the platform to keep up with the train before she fell and was dragged along the platform.

“It was terribly traumatic,” said Hardie. “The poor dog was pulled off the platform and onto the track. In the process the dog struck a post.”

The leash was thin, he said, and it snapped just as the train left the station.

Hardie said there are automatic sensors that cause the train to stop if someone or something is on the tracks at the station but because the dog didn’t hit the tracks until just beyond the platform, they didn’t go off.

People immediately called SkyTrain security and the train was stopped, said Hardie, adding that concerned citizens then jumped onto the tracks to fetch the badly injured dog.

They heaved the dog off the tracks and sat comforting her while they waited for help to arrive.

The dog’s owner got off at the next stop and was helped home by SkyTrain employees. Staff also took the dog to the veterinarian.

Hardie said the dog suffered a broken nose among other “serious injuries” but said he is expected to survive.

“It may not work again as a guide dog but we don’t know if that’s due to its actions of leaving the train too early or because of the injuries.”

The woman has filed an incident report, but Hardie could not say whether she was seeking compensation from TransLink.

He said a full review will be conducted, which may include an additional investigation with a provincial safety regulator to see whether the system worked properly.

http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/worl...881/story.html

So sad ='[ hope it recovers quickly

surprised the safety features didnt react; a strap stuck in the doors should be serious enough to affect them

Quote:

Originally Posted by StylinRed (Post 7130344)

surprised the safety features didnt react; a strap stuck in the doors should be serious enough to affect them

Those doors have pretty cheesy seals to begin with. I've counted many trains where I could see thru the cracks on the doors.

Wow. that's totally brutal.
My backpack straps always get stuck between the doors without knowing it. I had to wait for the next stop that opens the same door so i can finally sit down. I tried to pull it out, didn't work.

Right after they ran the story on the evening news, Robin Stickley noted that the dog was now up and walking around... she'll still need reconstructive surgery on her nose to be able to eat properly again, but it's amazing she's still alive.

even when the train is running you can force the doors to open (the gap whould be like a few inches). I try that before and is very easy to do.

Dog is very strong when it comes survivability. It also recovers very quick.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp (Post 7130420)

even when the train is running you can force the doors to open (the gap whould be like a few inches). I try that before and is very easy to do.

Watching the story, I just wondered why nobody hit the emergency stop. According to the story, it took until the dog hit the sensors on the track before it stopped.

^ more often than not ppl are like deer in the headlights when somethings happening. they just stand there and watch.

it's called the "bystander effect"

Quote:

is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present. The probability of help has in the past been thought to be inversely related to the number of bystanders; in other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

^I have never seen a emergency stop button....

Ya, there's a yellow silent alarm strip... But I dunno if there's an E stop button
Posted via RS Mobile

The emergency button doesn't actually stop the train, the yellow strip sends a silent signal to Translink secuity where the red button telecom is used to talk to translink security

Luckily the dog was just injured and not killed

Hope it's nose recovers quickly
Posted via RS Mobile

just heard about this on the news...man wasn't there any people on the skytrain to help? the world we live in today....sigh*....

Other than hitting an emergency stop (which some say there isn't one), what else COULD anyone do?

i just teared up a little! hope the dog is not that hurt after the recovery.. so sad..

They did a poll on 1130 about whether TransLink should cover the $15000 vet for the dog. Translink said they wouldn't pay but would implement better safety, should something like this happen again (who knows what that would cost).

My first though was, this kind of thing is a freak accident and the owner probably should've had better control of the dog. I don't think there was any negligence on TransLink's end and they shouldn't be held legally responsible BUT since they have such a shitty reputation, they should just pay the vet bill to gain a little public favour.

^ the owner is blind.. what kind of control could she have had?

Quote:

Originally Posted by fliptuner (Post 7130619)

Yes and no, hard for me to say the owner could have done that much more imo. She's relying on the dog almost 100%. But then again, I'm not too sure what it's like to be blind.

But ya, I agree that translink shouldn't be held legally responsible for the incident.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fafine (Post 7130626)

^ the owner is blind.. what kind of control could she have had?

Any guide dog I've seen has a harness attached to a handle and possibly a second, conventional leash. She should've been holding the dog by the handle. You might not want to hear it but just because she's blind, doesn't mean she can't hang on to the dog.

They should put in emergency stop buttons like on the Canada Line, no?

translinks safety apparatus failed... its not like the dog was unleashed and walked out of the train... the leash is connected to her hand and it was stuck inbetween the doors.... the doors shouldn't have closed and the train shouldn't have moved if the safety implementations were working properly

translink is at fault.. they're trying to play it off as a "oh its just a dumb dog doing something stupid" but that's not the case.

when i took the skytrain as a kid there's a yellow strip that you press that stops the train no? did they remove that?

I dont think there is anything they can do about this.. Think of how small the strap is... The rubber will just form around it.
I dont think Translink should be held responsible. But what could work out in their favor is to call up a couple of their advertisers and get each of them to cut a cheque for $7500. Then do a press release and straight up say they felt so bad about the whole situation that they worked with *insert company name here* and *insert company name here* to cover the cost of the vet bill.

When it comes down to it this is just a freak accident that nobody could have ever seen coming.