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How would socialism prevent this accident? Or, how about, what regulation would prevent it, while still allowing critical goods to flow? My point is NOT that

How would socialism prevent this accident? Or, how about, what regulation would prevent it, while still allowing critical goods to flow? My point is NOT that there's nothing to be done, it's that these sorts of accidents require attention to detail to prevent. There's no blanket easy political fix.

donmcronald 4y ago
> Or, how about, what regulation would prevent it, while still allowing critical goods to flow? Personal liability for the beneficial owners would go a long way. Don't let the people making the poor decisions hide behind corporate liability shields. Make them risk their personal wealth. Alternatively, levy massive fines that wipe out profits when a company cuts corners to the point of negligence. Make it unprofitable to be reckless. For example, I think Norfolk makes something like $3 billion per year, so fine them at least $3 billion for a preventable incident like this.
- parasubvert 4y ago
  The FRA does already levy fines for safety violations, though yeah they could be raised. Hot bearings / axles can happen even with proper car maintenance and there are usually wayside sensors to detect such incidents before they cause a derailment. It will become clearer what went wrong on this patch of rail when the NTSB report comes out, though perhaps it's time the FRA mandated hotbox detectors at dense intervals closer to towns. A surveillance camera saw the hot axle fire 20 miles out of the derailment: https://www.wsj.com/articles/miles-before-ohio-derailment-train-axle-was-on-fire-video-shows-7e221f0e https://www.wsj.com/articles/miles-before-ohio-derailment-tr...
  - Eisenstein 4y ago
    If the consequences were them losing all profit for a year and/or the CEO going to jail, you better bet there won't be any derailments, no matter what excuses there are this time around.
    - parasubvert 4y ago
      More likely, they'd just stop carrying the dangerous goods in the first place as not being profitable.
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    A fine that doesn't go above and beyond the extraProfitFromBad / probabilityOfGettingFined by a large margin isn't a fine, it's a tax.

donmcronald 4y ago

> Or, how about, what regulation would prevent it, while still allowing critical goods to flow? Personal liability for the beneficial owners would go a long way. Don't let the people making the poor decisions hide behind corporate liability shields. Make them risk their personal wealth. Alternatively, levy massive fines that wipe out profits when a company cuts corners to the point of negligence. Make it unprofitable to be reckless. For example, I think Norfolk makes something like $3 billion per year, so fine them at least $3 billion for a preventable incident like this.

parasubvert 4y ago
The FRA does already levy fines for safety violations, though yeah they could be raised. Hot bearings / axles can happen even with proper car maintenance and there are usually wayside sensors to detect such incidents before they cause a derailment. It will become clearer what went wrong on this patch of rail when the NTSB report comes out, though perhaps it's time the FRA mandated hotbox detectors at dense intervals closer to towns. A surveillance camera saw the hot axle fire 20 miles out of the derailment: https://www.wsj.com/articles/miles-before-ohio-derailment-train-axle-was-on-fire-video-shows-7e221f0e https://www.wsj.com/articles/miles-before-ohio-derailment-tr...
- Eisenstein 4y ago
  If the consequences were them losing all profit for a year and/or the CEO going to jail, you better bet there won't be any derailments, no matter what excuses there are this time around.
  - parasubvert 4y ago
    More likely, they'd just stop carrying the dangerous goods in the first place as not being profitable.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  A fine that doesn't go above and beyond the extraProfitFromBad / probabilityOfGettingFined by a large margin isn't a fine, it's a tax.