Alarm System Used to Warn Against Accidents Didn't Work Before Cable Car Mishap

By: Sylvia Ramirez - Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:11:51 -0800

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- San Francisco transit officials say an alarm that is supposed to alert authorities to obstructions on the city's cable car line did not sound before a cable car hit a metal object and came to a sudden stop, injuring ten people.

The mishap occurred on Wednesday morning as the car was heading downhill around 9 miles per hour. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Director of Transit John Haley says the car hit a 1 and ½ inch screw or bolt in the cable groove and abruptly stopped.

Haley tells the San Francisco Chronicle that pieces of paper in the past have set off the system's alarms, so it's not clear why the metal object didn't do so.

Seven of the injured were taken to a hospital, one of them with life-threatening injuries.

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