Walt Disney World Monorail Crash Leaves One Dead

Twenty-one year-old Austin Wuennenberg was operating one of the Walt Disney World monorail trains when it collided with another train in the Magic Kingdom section of the park. Wuennenberg was killed and at least 5 other people were injured in the crash, although authorities and Disney officials are still hesitant to release details of the incident.

This is the first fatal crash in the history of Disney’s monorail system, which has been operating in parks around the world for over 38 years. The crash occurred at approximately 2AM on Sunday morning and officials and security guards have been keeping people from the scene as investigators continue to assess the situation. There is believed to be some video of the moments shortly after the crash posted on YouTube and perhaps on other sites around the web. It is not believed that the video shows the impact, but only the moments immediately following the crash.

On the heels of the DC Metro train crash and two major plane crashes, this single-death incident at Disney is going to continue a disturbing trend in transportation. People are dying at an alarming rate and there seem to be some flaws in systems that are largely assumed to be well-managed and very safe. From a numbers standpoint, things are very safe, but the preventive measures that are not being taken are very unsettling for people who depend on public transportation as their primary means of travel.