Curt Fischer wrote:
> Michael Cash wrote:
> > On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 22:04:42 +1000, Wilson <fake@email.com> brought
> > down from the Mount tablets inscribed:
> >
> >
> >>Maybe if the driver had played Densha De Go more often, this
wouldn't
> >>have happened.
> >
> >
> > Here's food for thought:
> >
> > Imagine if the vehicle in question had been an automobile instead
of a
> > train.
> >
> > At 11 months total driving experience, the driver would still be
over
> > two years away from even being eligible to upgrade to a license to
> > drive a bus.
> >
> > So in the case of automotive licensing, the system would consider
him
> > far short of being capable of hauling 30 or 40 people around. Yet
in
> > the case of choo-choo licensing they give him a limited express
with
> > 580 people onboard.
>
> It was a limited express?  I didn't know that, although I don't know
how
> I missed it, since I've been sitting at home watching the news for
the
> last hour.
>
> It's interesting how Japanese news outlets emphasize that the crash
was
> after peak commutation hours and was (relatively) empty, but English
> language outlets say things like "A packed commuter train jumped the
> tracks..." (ABC) and " A crowded Japanese commuter train" (Reuters).
>
I've also noticed more focus on how close the apartments were to the
tracks, at least in the couple of stories I've read (AP?).

John W.