Unsuck DC Metro: Doors Close with No Warning, Trap, Injure Rider

Anony-Moose · 619 weeks ago

Let's see if round 2 is worth anything:

- "If you see a suspicious body part, find an unattended severed limb or witness a decapitation, stay away from it and tell the bus operator, train operator, police officer or station manager immediately. Following the customary mouldering period, Metro employees will address the issue."

Let's get some more participation up in here. What other fun can we have with metro's announcements.

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Ever n Anon · 619 weeks ago

Welcome to Metro. If you see something, say something... to someone else. We're busy.

Welcome to Metro. If you see a suspicious item check to make sure it is not a body part. If it is, just ask for a mop. We have plenty of unused ones! Yours for the asking. We aim to please. (Ourselves)

Welcome to Metro! If you see Anony-Moose, let us know. We'll lock our kiosk doors right away. Thank you for your assistance in keeping Metro staff safe.

Anony-Moose · 619 weeks ago

Woohoo! Infamy!

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@ieatkillerbees · 619 weeks ago

¿Disculpe, es que su brazo cortado?

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Fake David Alturd · 619 weeks ago

Hi everyone!

I really don't understand smart growth or urbanism, but I am going to make a fool of myself by arguing against it!

I think suburban sprawl and highway traffic is a good thing, so I'm going to make fun of a website that tries to make the world a better place on a completely unrelated blog!

Haha! Aren't I funny guys? Ron Paul for President 2016! Tea Party Forever!

-Fake David Alturd

9 replies · active 619 weeks ago

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Matt G · 619 weeks ago

OK, you need to stop now. You're not funny anymore.

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Ryan · 619 weeks ago

Fake David Alturd is actually performance art because he implies that David Alpert actually "knows things" and "makes valuable contributions." BRAH-VOH!

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Dave Alturd · 619 weeks ago

It's pretty incedible that whoever this is would mock me.

I'm FOR Smarth Growth and urbanism. Everyone should live like a farm pig or cattle in skyscraper and cages all locked up together!

Trees and open areas are for privledged people and the backward society that supported all sort of evil like "lawns" and "backyards".

The nerve of some people. I'm just trying to help by lobbing your politicians to get what I want for places I don't even live in guys!

Read my blog! :http://greatergreatergreaterwashington.org/

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Jin · 619 weeks ago

THANK YOU. I've been sick of this schtick for a while now.

Ryan · 619 weeks ago

I find David Alturd to be moderately amusing from time to time. You, however, have the comedic value of a beloved dead pet.

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John · 619 weeks ago

Welcome to UnsuckDCMetro, Dave Alpert!

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@FireDrGridlock · 619 weeks ago

"I'm David Alpert! I have no background or experience whatsoever in transit and urban planning, but I want to dictate how the city goes about its transit planning! Anyone who thinks my approach is idiotic is automatically a tea party republican who hates mass transit and loves suburban sprawl! And don't make me call you a cyclophobe!"

This is SO Alpert it's not even funny. Right out of his Playbook.

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Ryan · 619 weeks ago

I posted a nice MSPaint of David Alpert as The Joker on the facebook site. Looks very appropriate.

Socket · 619 weeks ago

Sadly, this does capture Alpert's attitude toward anybody who doesn't agree with him.

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@FixWMATA · 619 weeks ago

Related: Customer injury rate is up. http://wmata.com/about_metro/board_of_directors/b...

1 reply · active 619 weeks ago

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Metro = SCUM · 619 weeks ago

They probably see that as a good thing!

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phan · 619 weeks ago

If that happens again, maybe the victim should call the (not Metro) police. He/she was basically assaulted. I really have to start looking for a car.

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@CurmudgeonsClub · 619 weeks ago

I've seen the chimes/lights fail to operate many times and each time sent it to the wmata Twitter who I assume ignored it. Sent the car number and all. I figured since the twitter account was more responsive than the actual customer service line (which isn't hard to do) the person running it would tell SOMEONE the car number.

Not so.

And this happened to a person who could see well. Two blind people get in green line south at my station each morning. What if the doors closed without chimes for them? Would it close around their neck?

1 reply · active 619 weeks ago

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karah 81p · 619 weeks ago

Actually, the closure on my head was just about on my neck, so yes. Scary.

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YTK · 619 weeks ago

This podunk hillbilly metro system sucks. That heppend to me once -- door opened and IMMIEDIATELY shut. On me. It was the first car and the driver heard me cursing and opened the door. God Bless the NY Subway!!!!

1 reply · active 619 weeks ago

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Anon · 619 weeks ago

uh... can we leave the hillbilly part out? My family history is filled with hillbillies and we do not cut off peoples body parts with trains. (We offer them moonshine so we can laugh at the face they make on that first swallow.) Thank yew.

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Stan Dessel · 619 weeks ago

You got your arms and legs back didn't you? You're welcome.

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hrh king friday 13 · 619 weeks ago

Aww, a Metro love hickey.

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Parrish · 619 weeks ago

"Is there a reason why Metro employees are so miserable and surly?"

Yes. They work for Metro. If I worked for Metro, I'd be a pretty unhappy person, too. How many people could say otherwise?

1 reply · active 619 weeks ago

Metro = POND SCUM · 619 weeks ago

Who knows why they're so miserable.

They're way overpaid, have no accountability, get to sleep and chat half the day, never need to go beyond expectations (which are low anyway), and have great government-backed job security. If one of them actually acts like a normal, average, decent human being, they're praised like a hero.

In reality half of them should be in prison, if only for robbing taxpayers and riders... by under-performance and getting paid to NOT work. That's considered theft where I work.

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StanDessell · 619 weeks ago

My guess is the station manager and the train conductor were both products of the job program that METRO simply is. No accountability for fear of racsim.....

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Stewd · 619 weeks ago

One persons bruise is another persons love bite.

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Heather · 619 weeks ago

The OP ought to go to a doctor and send WMATA the bill for it, and then if they don't respond, get an attorney on it, and call the Washington Post or NBC 4. NBC 4 seems to be OK with exposing Metro stupidity, at least from what I've seen.

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jbendavis 69p · 619 weeks ago

I call BS. It doesn't take 30 seconds for three people to board a train. Even at a busy station at rush hour the doors don't stay open for 30 seconds!

17 replies · active 582 weeks ago

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karah 81p · 619 weeks ago

They have been known to close right after they open. I mean RIGHT after ... the door had just reached fully open when it trapped me.

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anon · 619 weeks ago

....
Train doors do not close immediately. There should be no way anyone can normally be trapped by a door unless the train was overloaded or in the majority of the times, the person rushed the door when it was in the process of closing and got caught. I've personally witnessed dumb people doing even dumber things with the trains. If the door is closing, wait for the next train. If the train is overloaded, look for a different car or wait for the next train. Try putting yourself in the door of any other train system, the same thing will happen to you. Go to nyc, chicago, boston, etc. Standard subway doors do not have sensors to detect people in the door area. they will all close on you.

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Anon · 619 weeks ago

Wrong. Trust me as a victim. Wrong.

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karah 81p · 619 weeks ago

Thanks for calling myself and all the witnesses liars. Go collect your WMATA paycheck, 'k?

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Jin · 619 weeks ago

And will open if they close on something (like elevator doors do). So even if a person was taking their sweet time getting on a train, the doors should not trap them.

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anon · 619 weeks ago

they do not work like elevator doors.
Most elevators have a set of inner doors and outer doors. They're completely independent. Sandwiched between are usually infrared sensors and a plastic push plate that when it senses something in between will stop the closing mechanism and reopen.
Trains do not have that luxury because of space requirements. All the subway cars i've ever been on that have sliding doors have one set of doors. They have no room for sensors that would work well. Their sliding mechanism is pretty basic. The only time they open and close are when the operator triggers it to do so. It's not an automatic system.
The person who's story this article is about is missing some key information. 30 seconds being open for 4 people to board is an absurd amount of time. The only way this makes sense is if the car was jam packed with people. In which this person put himself in a position to have the door close on him/her. If they're unable to squeeze in or make room for themselves, then they should wait for the next train.
I guess i'm not an accident prone idiot since i've been taking the train for the past 2 years every workday with no incidents of getting "trapped" in the door besides being a pretty large hefty person and that includes being packed in like sardines in totally overfilled cars. I regularly see people with disabilities like cerebral paulsy that even though they take extra time to move apparently do not seem to have the inability to enter/exit the train properly. I've even seen a person who has blades for feet and he seems to be able to ride the train no problem. As for you folk who are perfectly normal but seemly can't grasp a simple concept... i wonder...

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@Hell_on_wheelz · 619 weeks ago

In the 12 years I have used the Metro trains - both as a person with feet and on wheelz - I have seen train ops open and then close doors without allowing sufficient time for the doors to even completely open. Thirty seconds is not beyond the pale (at least on the red and green lines). I have seen people trapped and been trapped myself - in this exact circumstance: on cars where chimes have not sounded. In the instances where the doors closed on my person or chair, I was not trying to "beat the train" nor was I bumbling about unaware of my surroundings. Just because this hasn't happened to you YET does not mean that instances of it happening are due to the intelligence level of the victim.

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Elizabeth · 619 weeks ago

For whatever reason, the doors do NOT always chime...I have been in this situation before, at 6:30am at the second stop on the orange line...I was waiting on the platform, exactly where the train doors halt (I know, since I ride it every day, where to stand to enter immediately), a few people went on in front of me (no one got off) and as I was entering, fairly quickly, the doors shut on me, no warning, and more quickly than they usually close (otherwise, I could have scooted on in when I saw them moving) and trapped me by my shoulders...I am also a child sized person (under 5 feet tall, and a pretty fast marathon runner...as in, I win or place in all kinds of distance races- not slow, overweight, or oversized in ANY way). I am also a fairly intelligent person and wasn't rushing to "beat" the train (yes, I have done it before and that was my own damn fault). Some of the operators are obviously just idiotic OR the doors/chimes do not always work correctly...in any case, WMATA's fault, not the CUSTOMER'S fault. I'm not saying it happens all the time, or often, but to call bullshit when it's happened to plenty of people on various lines, at all times of makes me wonder why YOU can't grasp a simple concept...and makes me wonder about YOU...

n2deep · 619 weeks ago

train doors can close without chimes and announcements but they do not close faster. the drive motors on the doors are set and do not fluctuate. it just seems faster when you do not hear chimes. i also watch a lot of people with headphones or focused on their ipods and walk right into doors that are closing. then have the nerve to act like someone did them wrong. i watch this 8 hours a day 5 days a week.

karah 81p · 619 weeks ago

Yes, the time the door trapped me I was on the train right in front of the door. Nobody was standing immediately in front of it on the platform either (the witnesses knew to not get in front of them). I was moving as fast as my nervous system could tell me the doors were open.

karah 81p · 619 weeks ago

Hey everyone! I am an idiot now because I walked through doors and they closed as soon as they opened!

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ggs77 · 619 weeks ago

I was crushed in a Metro door while exiting and it does happen. Train had stopped at Pentagon City, I was waiting right in front of the door to exit. Doors opened, I took one step, doors closed on me, pinning my arms to my sides. I struggled to free myself, pulled out a little and doors clamped onto my backpack. Train began to move. I was terrified that I would be carried down the platform and into the tunnel. I kept struggling and literally popped out of the doors and hit the platform face first. I rolled over to see the train pulling away and the startled faces of the passengers who had been standing behind me, ready to exit the train. Struggled up the escalator, told station manager, was handed a piece of paper and blown off. One reason I now drive to work.

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anon · 619 weeks ago

If that ever happens, i would suggest to someone riding the train to pull the emergency stop lever. The train will stop, the driver will be fired and you will be let off the train. Everyone wins.

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ggs77 · 619 weeks ago

I do not know where you are from, but you need to know there are not "emergency stop levers" in Metro cars. There is only an intercom that may or may not reach the driver, who may or may not answer you. The operator will not stop the train unless and until he/she is convinced that there is a good reason to do so. By the time someone could have explained that reason, I suspect I would have been a bug on the windshield (so to speak). Also, the driver would not have been fired simply for crushing me in the door. Retrained, perhaps, possibly promoted, but not fired. This is the real world of Metro. And another reason why I now drive to work.

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anon · 619 weeks ago

Fairly sure its in the middle of each car near the priority seating. A lever that looks like its for a fire alarm. Never seen it pulled but I assume it applies brakes and opens the middle door.

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karah 81p · 619 weeks ago

Sounds a little like my Crystal City incident. The people on the platform could hardly believe it.

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anon · 619 weeks ago

bullshit the train will not move if the doors are not fully closed. IDIOTS

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@VeggieTart · 619 weeks ago

I do believe Metro operators have--miracle of miracles--have been fired for failing to notice when someone has a body part stuck in the train doors. A few years ago there were a couple of horror stories about someone being dragged along the platform. So hopefully if OP got the car number, it will help.

Sorry you were hurt, OP; I hope you recover quickly;

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Kathryn-DC · 619 weeks ago

So, if I understood the story correctly, you were injured in a malfunctioning train door and Metro staff (a) did not offer any first aid or to call EMS for your injuries and (b) were surly and dismissive in response to your attempts to report a safety violation.

(Yet this morning they published a report patting themselves on the back for having 85% of 2/3 of their employees willing to report a safety problem.)

1 reply · active 619 weeks ago

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surveySays... · 619 weeks ago

Lol, that survey.
Huge surprise that the majority said they are willing to report a safety problem. What's more telling is the percent of workers who reported a safety problem (43%)

Less than a quarter of metro employees who bothered to respond (64%) have reported safety violations or concerns in the last year.

Regardless of the numbers, a survey should not be given much weight in making decisions other than those meant to encourage a safer (and hopefully more pleasant) workplace.

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Dave Alturd · 619 weeks ago

This is clearly the fault of the Rider. If they weren't so morbidly obsese they would have the reflexes to get out of the way of even a malfunctioning door that closes without warning.

And how do we get thinner kids? By walking and bike riding everywhere!

So really, this rider, the commentators on this blog and the general public should THANK Metro for reminding us to remain in good health and to walk/bike as much as possible for a few hours a day!

Hopefully this rider will learn a life lesson about cars, suburbs and sloth from this incident.

Read my blog!: http://greatergreatergreaterwashington.org/

1 reply · active 619 weeks ago

Dull Dull · 619 weeks ago

You're dull - we want Stan Dessel!

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6 stops · 619 weeks ago

I was on Green heading north from L'enfant last week when the driver pretty much went off on someone stuck in the doors. I don't know if the person was trying to hold up the train or injured like this lady.

Nevertheless, the nastiness was not professional or helpful.

Last summer I spent everyday on the Tokyo subway and JR. This "system" is fucking joke.

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Ann · 619 weeks ago

Unfortunately, I think the only way to draw attention to these things is to surreptitiously take video of whenever you make an in-person complaint to Metro. The trouble is that in the heat of the moment, it's difficult to remember to start recording.

3 replies · active 619 weeks ago

Metro = POND SCUM · 619 weeks ago

Oh, I'm sure they'd try to say you "illegally" recorded them and then the corrupt government court system will end up punishing you rather than Metro.

Yes, they are that low. Lower than pond scum.

doIt · 619 weeks ago

http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/media_relations/...

"Filming is allowed at most metro stations" (I assume this excludes Pentagon, maybe others)
A metro station is considered a public place, so you can photograph all you like. I forget if there are laws in DC regarding recording audio in public (though wiretapping in DC is one-party consent, so if the law is along the same lines you can consent to yourself recording audio)
And remember, no one can confiscate your camera/phone or force you to delete photos without a warrant.

Data_man · 619 weeks ago

I don't think it is illegal because I don't think it is a situation when there is an expectation of privacy. More importantly, it doesn't have to be legal to go viral and get attention. Attention is what we need and sadly that is difficult to come by.

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karah 81p · 619 weeks ago

I had the doors close on my head (not before me, actually trapping my head) less than a second after opening with no warning chime or anything. This shocked the people on the platform. Of course metro could not identify the operator (yeah, right) and treated it as no big deal.

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Ever n Anon · 619 weeks ago

Nothing new here. 2 years ago they shut the door on my ankle,. almost breaking it. I email and called. I was told they could not talk to me in case I decided to sue. End of story.

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anon · 619 weeks ago

BS,The doors do not have that much force.

5 replies · active 619 weeks ago

ggs77 · 619 weeks ago

That's a highly relative statement, anon. I doubt if they have sufficient force to dent steel, for example. But unquestionably they have enough force to bruise unprotected human skin, trap and hold objects, and cause injury. If you doubt this, I urge you to stand next to the doors some time and insert any body part at random, holding it there while the doors close. Let us know the outcome.

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nellie · 619 weeks ago

Anyone who rides metro on a fairly regular basis has had the doors close on them. Definitely not enough force to bruise unless you suffer from "easy briusing syndrome". Most people injure themselves by trying to forcefully remove whatever body part is stuck in the door.

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ggs77 · 619 weeks ago

Not sure what "easy briusing syndrome" is. Some people do bruise more easily than others, if that is what you are trying to say. Regardless, I do not suffer from that problem and I had bruises for a week--and was wearing a coat and shirt at the time of the incident. Your statements fly in the face of my experience and that of others who have posted here. If it means that much to you, no problem. Just want to point out that ignoring evidence does not make it go away.

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anon · 619 weeks ago

you can stop the doors idiot.

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guest · 619 weeks ago

um, yes, they do. i don't know who you are, anon, but try being a 5'4" 115# woman shoved into closing doors by larger riders for a while. then get back to me.

of course, what it's going to take is a door closing on a stroller with a toddler in it who has one or more limbs hanging out; i can absolutely see a door breaking a kid's arm or leg. *then* there might be some holy uproar that might actually get something done.