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Basically, the accident involving Amtrak which lead to numerous deaths of passengers of the train is a great catastrophe that produced a profound impact on the nation. In actuality, the death of many people was closely intertwined with numerous violations of the existing norms and poor work of professionals to prevent such accidents. In fact, it proves beyond a doubt that this accident could be avoided if all the services and parties involved in the accident worked properly and more effectively. In such a situation, the accident raises a number of ethical issues, which are often related to the violation of the existing legal norms and which need the adequate response since, otherwise, the remains the risk of similar tragedies in the future.
First of all, it is important to underline that it is not only Amtrak that is involved in and responsible for the accident. In actuality, the company’s train plunged into the Big Bayou Canot, killing 47 passengers. This is why it is possible to estimate that the company is one of the major parties that is responsible for the death of people. On the other hand, there was Mauville, which actually bumped the bridge that resulted in the catastrophe as well as there was an ineffective work of the US Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board. Each of the parties involved is responsible for the accidents not only from legal but also ethical point of view. buy an essay
In fact, Amtrak did not provide the passengers with a possibility to conduct effective and fast evacuation that could have saved many lives after the accident occurred. To put it more precisely, the cars were not equipped properly and passengers were almost in the total darkness. Moreover, there were no employees who could react adequately on the accident and who could assist passengers who were in the cars that plunged from the bridge. As a result, the passengers had to save their lives on their own without any professional assistance. Obviously, the company should provide each car with a professional who could be responsible for the safety of passengers. In addition, those professionals that were supposed to help passengers and coordinate their efforts with the US Coast Guard and emergency services could not even locate the position of the train and gave the emergency services misleading information, while the time for rescue of passengers were lost. In such a situation the loss of even 10-15 minutes could be crucial for the survival of passengers. Nevertheless, the company and its employees proved to be absolutely irresponsible or, at least, unable to prevent or, even, react properly on the accident. Moreover, it is necessary to remind the fact that the speed of the train was 72 mph, while it could not exceed 70 mph speed limit, especially, taking into consideration the fog which limited consistently the ability of the pilot to adequately see the railway track.
At this point, it is also necessary to refer to the National Transportation Safety Board since the construction of the bridge and the system of lighting were absolutely ineffective. On the one hand, the pilot of the train could not see the track because there were not enough lights, while, on the other hand, he saw the green light which allowed him to drive the train at the maximum speed. In fact, it does not really matter that he exceeded the speed limit for 2 mph, since even at the speed 70 mph the results of the accidents could hardly be much better and the number of victims would not have been changed or minimized.
The contribution of the pilot and captain of Mauville, who bumped the bridge, was also very significant, since the pilot was not trained for work with the radar, especially in such difficult conditions. In addition they could not help the passengers in time, though they were definitely willing to. In this respect, the lack of information about what was going on was again the crucial factor and obviously, it is because of the lack of the light they could not see and assess the situation properly. At the same time, they violated the existing regulations that they should notify the Coast Guard immediately if they were lost. As for rescue services, namely the US Coast Guard, its work was also ineffective because they could not find and assist victims of the accident.
In such a situation, it is possible to recommend certain improvements which could prevent or, at least minimize the risk of such accident. Firstly, Mauville and the train of Amtrak should be properly equipped and a sufficient amount of specialists should be employed. Namely, each car should have a professional that could assist passengers. In addition, employees of both the train and Mauville, should be able to locate their position precisely, with the help of navigation systems.
As for the National Transportation Safety Board they should develop clear and effective regulations, for instance decreasing the speed of the train, or creation of the normal system of lighting the bridge, while the US Coast Guard should react faster on the accident and arrive to the scene with essential equipment to evacuate passengers.