(Long Island, NY) Former Senator Carol Berman made headlines recently when she fell into a ten-inch gap between a LIRR car and the station platform. According to published reports, there have been several investigations into this ten-inch gap, including one by the Department of Transportation.
LIRR has signs plastered all over its stations warning of the gap, but it hasn’t been enough to prevent a series of mishaps, including an incident in August that killed an 18-year old girl.
There are two issues here. The first is obvious. This ten-inch gap problem is a safety hazard and should be addressed at once. Is there more evidence needed than the August 18 death and this most recent incident involving Carol Berman?
Published articles say that in the last two years, one hundred people have been injured on the LIRR in spite of warning signs. This may not have a familiar ring…yet.
One hundred actual people with actual injuries still have not promoted any real steps to protect customers of the LIRR by fixing the problem. As in, closing the gap by any practical means. The warning signs are clearly not enough, at least not in the minds of those one hundred souls who got more than they bargained for in their journey on the railroad.
Can you think of any other controversy on Long Island where people thought that warning labels or signs just weren’t enough? Where actual legislation was passed to protect people from what was believed to be a clear hazard to the public at large?
I’m talking about the Nassau County smoking ban debacle, and the obvious hypocrisy at work with respect to the LIRR. If those who were so concerned that cigarette smoke is a danger to public health don’t also speak up about this ten-inch gap problem, it begs the question as to why these people bothered to speak up in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong; I am a non-smoker, I think that people should not be forced to endure smoke in public places such as family restaurants, planes, and other common areas. I believe that a reasonable ban on smoke in areas where non-smokers and children congregate is a good idea.
But if these same people who lobby so hard against public smoking in the name of safety don’t speak up about this LIRR issue, they can’t be taken seriously ever again. If smoking showed certifiable, admissible-in-court damages to one hundred innocent bystanders in two years, we’d have seen the cancer sticks become illegal to OWN, let alone smoke. What’s with the lack of outcry over the ten-inch gap on the LIRR? It’s a real danger, and seems to be a non-issue for safety-minded anti-smokers.
Hypocrisy, folks.
To be fair, I travel a hell of a lot, I don’t know about the existence of every single activist group interested in fixing the LIRR gap problem. I do know that a lot of parents are concerned. This is excellent. But the anti-smokers who presented such a united front against the cancer sticks should not be counted among the silent majority. Let these people speak up with the same vociferous quality they used to stamp out smoking in your favorite places.
I don’t say these things in order to make light of the situation. The LIRR gap problem is dangerous, needs fixing, and soon. Maybe these people have already started mobilizing in the name of the public good once again, and if they have, I want to hear from them. However, if the anti-smokers don’t put their two cents worth in soon, and lend their considerable weight of opinion and activism to another very worthy public safety issue, I believe it may be time for the tobacco companies to send them all a carton of complimentary smokes.
