NTSB Safety: Seat Belts, Windows, etc.

Tadman wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:11 am

ryanov wrote: No one mentioned statistics but you.

[...]
If we are worried about deaths caused by trains, let's look at the numbers. Where are the problems?

If you compare Amtrak internationally, they aren't doing too well. I see 0.43 deaths per passenger-mile in this article, compared to 0.26 in the EU (with huge variations per country). So I would definitely say that there is room for improvement. But I don't know about seat belts. I think the US would be the only country in the world. I think that PTC is already a large step in the right direction.

It is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. I am curious what the NEC and Keystone Corridor numbers are compared to equivalent systems in Europe. Our network outside the NEC and Keystone Corridor is very different than most of the EU.

ctclark1 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 5:05 pm

lpetrich wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 3:51 pm There is, however, a simple safety feature: make the seats face backwards.
<snip>
but many passengers don't like them.

I wouldn't necessarily call it a case of "not liking them" without expanding on it ---
Many people have balance and/or motion issues with traveling backwards for long periods of time. This would be especially true with lots of acceleration/deceleration and turns - times when inertia takes an effect on the body. Sure, it's maybe something people might be able to get used to over a long term of "training" the body, but the fact of the matter is we're built for moving forward and many people's brains don't like signals from the inner ear that they're traveling backwards.

It must be noted that half the seats in a dining car are facing backwards, as are the booth type seats in Acela equipment, and likely other seats on Amtrak cars. I have never seen anyone in the diner, seated backwards for an hour or so and eating and drinking, experience any resultant difficulty. Note also that the daytime bench seating in the highest price accommodations, the bedrooms, are facing backwards in half of the bedrooms, and in roomettes the same.

True. The amount of people who have this problem is very low... but not low enough to be rare. Still, if there's seats facing forward in most cases for them... this is a non-issue.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 5:15 pm

Ken W2KB wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 1:50 pm It must be noted that half the seats in a dining car are facing backwards, as are the booth type seats in Acela equipment, and likely other seats on Amtrak cars. I have never seen anyone in the diner, seated backwards for an hour or so and eating and drinking, experience any resultant difficulty. Note also that the daytime bench seating in the highest price accommodations, the bedrooms, are facing backwards in half of the bedrooms, and in roomettes the same.

True. The amount of people who have this problem is very low... but not low enough to be rare. Still, if there's seats facing forward in most cases for them... this is a non-issue.

Agreed! Have not been on Amtrak for two years or so now, darn Covid, but if all goes as planned I'll be riding coach on the Silver Star Dec. 14th from Newark, NJ to DC for the World Science Fiction Convention, a/k/a Worldcon https://discon3.org/ and return on Acela on the 20th. ($29 and $69 fares respectively. Egads!) Next year Worldcon is in Chicago so that will be Amtrak as well, probably use rewards points for sleeper.