Train engineer claims he zoned out, sources say

[hrmjustin]

Eyewitness News

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Sources familiar with the investigation tell Eyewitness News that Metro-North engineer William Rockefeller claims he was in a semi-conscious state as he entered the turn at Spuyten Duyvil. He likens this condition as akin to a trance or a hypnotic state.

"He tells us he was not asleep, but he was not fully-there, either," said this source. "But it happened at the worst possible moment, on one of the most dangerous stretches of track on the system."

When he realized he had zoned-out, he "snapped-back," but it was too late.

The train was going 82 mph as it entered a 30 mph turn Sunday morning and ran off the track killing 4 people and injuring dozens, National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said Monday.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=resources/traffic&id=9344996

[Warpy]

1. Zoning out like that is well enough known

that you'd think we'd have come up with more ways to deal with it than the occasional rumble strip in highway pavement.

I feel sorry for this poor guy. I know what it is to be running on autopilot, especially after poor sleep. I've snapped out in time. He didn't.

[PoliticAverse]

2. "Metro-North Engineer Was Dozing Just Before Train Derailment, Sources Say"

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131203/spuyten-duyvil/metro-north-train-driver-dozed-off-before-crash-sources-say