Until your last sentence, you were making my point! YIKES
This is exactly WHY the cameras are needed! What the heck are engineers thinking letting someone pull the throttle on a locomotive carrying human beings??? I might could understand a short line going 20 MPH, but Amtrak???
Well, the engineer was with them both the entire time, telling them what to do step by step ("put it into run 8, then sound the horn for this crossing"). There's really no danger in a situation like this, the engineer is still in complete control, and can grab the throttle, brake, or horn at any time.
I have to say that much as I'd like to get my hand on the throttle of a P42, your perspective on the issue DOES rather reinforce the point of the camera.
If you consider that sort of situation to be dangerous, then yes, it does. However, I do not, and I do not see the need for cameras watching the crew. That, and I also would like to get a chance to get my hand on the throttle of a P42 or another locomotive, and I don't want these cameras interfering with that.
You want to get your hands on the throttle of a P42 or another locomotive get hired on by a railroad, go through the appropriate training and run a train as an employee. Do I and a number of other people consider that sort of situation to be dangerous? Yes. Not only that but in a case where something goes wrong the railroad's liability skyrockets. Your line of reasoning will have railroad legal departments everywhere looking to paper the cab walls with cameras.
Legal departments. Lawyers have far too much to do with this. Before there was any means of monitoring crews, no one would have worried about this sort of situation. So why is it that every precaution must be taken to prevent something now, that a few decades ago would not have been nearly as big a deal? I think once someone has gone through the necessary training to operate one of these machines, they should be allowed to operate them without big brother watching their every move. If they want to take the risk upon themselves of violating the rules and letting an unauthorized person in the cab or committing some other violation, then that is their decision.
Could you please describe a scenario in which an unauthorized person being in the cab operating the locomotive under the close guidance of the engineer, with him or her ready to take control at a
seconds notice, could endanger anyone (physical danger, ignoring potential legal trouble for the engineer or unauthorized person)?