MetroLink: Pennies Saved, Lives Lost

Yesterday's MetroLink crash in Glendale probably would have resulted in nothing more than tardy workers of the public agency that runs the trains mandated a "locomotive-in-front" policy. They don't, because it's cheaper to run a "puller" in one direction, then just reverse and run a "pusher" in the other.

The train that hit the SUV was a pusher, so there was a lightweight rail car in the front, not a gazillion-ton locomotive that would have blasted the SUV to smithereens. This is obvious when looking at the pictures, and was confirmed this a.m. on Dennis Prager when a retired engineer called and said that's exactly what happened.

Government, so quick to regulate us, has to kill us before it will consider regulating itself.