PHILADELPHIA — As if the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority wasn’t having enough problems lately, one of its trolleys was struck Sunday by a driver who allegedly ran a red light, injuring four people.
Which might not seem like a SEPTA issue — except that that the Philadelphia Inquirer reports the driver of the vehicle turned out to be an off-duty SEPTA employee.
The collision in Southwest Philadelphia at about 6:30 a.m. derailed the trolley and caused what a SEPTA spokesman called “minor injuries” to the operator and three passengers.
Police said the driver, Brianna Satchell-Thomas, 31, of King of Prussia, Pa., initially left the scene, but was identified by a SEPTA pay stub in the vehicle that included her name and address.
According to the Inquirer, an arrest report says Satchell-Thomas returned to get her purse and other belongings and exhibited bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. She told the police the car wasn’t hers and she wasn’t driving it, although motor vehicle records show she is the owner. The arrest report describes her as “boisterous,” says she refused a DUI test, and was uncooperative. Police told the paper she is expected to be charged with aggravated assault while driving under the influence among other crimes.
A SEPTA spokesman confirmed Satchell-Thomas is a maintenance custodian and was not traveling to or from work at the time of the accident.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Transit Administration are among agencies currently involved after SEPTA buses and trolleys were involved in five accidents in the span of a week in July. One of those saw a trolley derail and crash into a building dating to 1766 [see “Three injured as SEPTA trolley derails …,” Trains News Wire, July 28, 2023]; another, involving two buses, killed a 72-year-old woman.
This is all street running. SEPTA’s LRV’s are streetcars. The automobile was identified as a white Mercedes Benz. No one has said how fast the Benz was going but it knocked the lead truck of a 29 ton LRV off the rails. It took SEPTA three hours to rerail the LRV but after that it could run to the Depot under its own power. I understand the Benz had hit the LRV and was demolished.
It seems like there was nothing the trolley operator could do to avoid the collision. The Route 13 trolley was rerailed later in the morning and was able to be driven back to the shop for any needed repair. Regular trolley service resumed Sunday afternoon.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Sunday’s crash in Southwest Philadelphia comes as SEPTA continues to assess processes and procedures after five major collisions involving its buses and trolleys in a week last month that resulted in one death and at least 25 injuries. The transit authority has been reluctant to link the incidents but has acknowledged ongoing struggles with staffing. As part of its investigation, SEPTA said it planned to get feedback from employees on safety issues.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Shuttle buses replaced the trolley service as the incident was addressed.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Totally unbelievable, but strikingly true!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
As the old saying goes……”Truth is stranger then fiction” Each day the world we live in gets weirder and wackier with a cast of thousands of morons and idiots
Joseph C. Markfelder
“Keystone cops” running (and running into….) SEPTA trains?
You can’t make this stuff up….
Yes, you can. But you don’t have to because they happen in real life.