Letter: Prevent deaths to subway trains
Photo credit: AP | Commuters watch as a train enters the 40th Street-Lowery Street station in Queens, where a man was killed after being pushed onto the subway tracks. (Dec. 28, 2012)
The two recent fatal subway pushings have shown the need for additional safety measures ["Fatal subway push," News, Dec. 30]. I'm sure the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's safety and engineering staff is looking into a fix.
I would like to suggest a possible solution that doesn't involve barriers at the platforms. My idea is a device attached to the front of the motorman's cab, near the level of and in front of the front wheels. This device would essentially push and scoop a victim along until the motorman could stop the train.
The material, shape and attachment of the device can be engineered.
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Think of the cattle catchers on locomotives in the Old West, or a snow plow attached to a pickup truck.
John Grosso, Queens
Editor's note: The writer is a retired civil engineer.
