One commenter on the TO thread said, "Finally, I'd like to ask a question. In the recent past, there have been a considerable number of reports of crew missing red signals. Is this due to fatigue? Is it difficult to see the signals? I hardly think so owing to the brightness of the red. Or is there something else that distracts engineers from seeing signals...like a signal that "drops" right before they get to the signal? It seems to me that I have seen red signals, or at least red aspect for quite a while before a train approaches."

Well, let's see. One guy missed a red because he was texting. Another pair of guys in a cab called a yellow but didn't see the point of slowing down in time to stop at the red. The Amtrak crew in Florida, I assume, had a restricting indication that gave them enough notice to stop at the red in the worst possible braking situation. An engineer flunks a banner test not just by failing to stop in half the length of vision, but runs right over the banner (at 20 mph max), only then putting the train in emergency!

I've got to wonder at the incredibly bad judgment that's revealed in all this. The banner test is comical, the Rialto incident almost so. Are these guys just unbelievably stupid, or are they so loaded they can only handle the most routine, "comfort zone" cases -- and as soon as something different happens, blowie?

And where are the supervisors? OPRRMS claims they're out there, but as soon as the FRA shows up, we catch a real doofus, just like that. Seems like our late texter and the Rialto boys could have been caught before now.