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The Hammond Circus Train Wreck (Patreon)
Content
Often in my videos I talk about what has been changed since the incident to stop it from happening again. And, sure enough, the control systems of trains have changed a great deal since 1918. I didn't include that in this video, as few of the changes could be directly attributed to this incident... but I thought you'd find the systems we have nowadays interesting nonetheless.
For a while, trains were equipped with a "dead man's switch" in the form of a pedal which the driver had to keep constantly pressed down. If the driver was taken ill or fell asleep, they'd naturally let up on the pedal and the train would come to a stop.
This was good, but still vulnerable to drivers falling unconscious and slumping down onto the pedal... so now we also have "vigilance" systems. These consist of a buzzer which sounds every few minutes, and to which the driver must respond (either by hitting a switch or manipulating some other control mechanism). While still not 100% perfect, that sounds like a pretty foolproof system to me!
