Cell Phone Ban May Follow Mass. Trolley Crash

Emergency personnel work outside the Government Center MBTA station in Boston, Friday, May 8, 2009. ...

Emergency personnel work outside the Government Center MBTA station in Boston, Friday, May 8, 2009. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority general manager Dan Grabauskas says the collision occurred at 7:18 p.m. One trolley was stopped between Park and Government Center stations at a red signal when it was hit by the second trolley. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

(AP)

The head of the Boston-area transit authority said Saturday he'll ban all train and bus operators from even carrying cell phones on board after a trolley driver told police he was texting his girlfriend before a collision Friday.

About 50 people were hurt in the underground crash in downtown Boston, though none of the injuries was life-threatening.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority already bans operators from using cell phones and recently ran an internal ad campaign featuring a poster of an open cell phone that warned employees not to drive "under the influence."

But general manager Daniel Grabauskas said Saturday the temptation obviously was too great for some.

"I want to remove any temptation by one or two people stupid enough to think a moment of convenience is worth the lives of the people they're transporting," he said. "I'm not going to wait for someone to die to institute a policy whose time I think has come."

Grabauskas said the new ban would apply to anyone working on a train or bus. He said he hopes to have the policy in place within a week.

The proposal won quick support from Steve MacDougall, president and business agent of the Boston Carmen's Union, Local 589, which represents most of the MBTA's roughly 6,000 employees

MacDougall said it was clear that Friday's accident could have been "far, far worse than it was."

He said he expects some resistance to the policy from union members who believe they're being punished for the irresponsibility of one employee. But he said he believes most workers eventually will embrace the change.

"When it comes to public safety and operating public transportation vehicles, a line has to be drawn," he said.

State Transportation Secretary James Aloisi Jr., chairman of the MBTA Board of Directors, said accidents like Friday's have become too common, citing a train accident last year in California in which 25 people were killed. An engineer involved in that crash was found to have sent and received dozens of text messages, including one sent 22 seconds before the crash.