{"id":442953,"date":"2026-08-25T11:16:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/442953\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:16:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:16:44","slug":"video-appears-to-show-san-francisco-train-operator-falling-asleep-before-crash-wsoc-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/442953\/","title":{"rendered":"Video appears to show San Francisco train operator falling asleep before crash \u2013 WSOC TV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">SAN FRANCISCO  \u2014 Video footage appears to show the moment when a San Francisco train operator nodded off and crashed into another train last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">According to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the July 31 crash was initially determined to have been caused by \u201coperator fatigue,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/post\/video-appears-show-san-francisco-muni-driver-asleep-before-2-empty-trains-crash\/19728248\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/post\/video-appears-show-san-francisco-muni-driver-asleep-before-2-empty-trains-crash\/19728248\/\">KGO<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DcU6JnjKBch\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsi=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DcU6JnjKBch\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsi=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\">Video<\/a> first obtained by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DcU6JnjKBch\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@NorCalBodycam<\/a> showed the collision between the two trains, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/muni-driver-asleep-l-taraval-train-crash-video\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/muni-driver-asleep-l-taraval-train-crash-video\">KTVU<\/a>. At about 8:32 a.m. PT, the driver can be seen scratching his head before his hand falls to his side and he appears to fall asleep for approximately 20 seconds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">The driver is jolted awake by the impact when the light rail train collides with another oncoming train, the television station reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">The impact shattered the front windshield of the train, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/muni-driver-asleep-l-taraval-train-crash-video\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/muni-driver-asleep-l-taraval-train-crash-video\">KTVU<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">The SFMTA confirmed that the crash involved two L Taraval trains at 47th Avenue and Wawona Street near the San Francisco Zoo, according to the television station.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">Two passengers were on the train when it crashed and exited after it stopped, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/muni-driver-asleep-l-taraval-train-crash-video\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/muni-driver-asleep-l-taraval-train-crash-video\">KTVU<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">In a statement, the SFMTA said there were no injuries, <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/post\/video-appears-show-san-francisco-muni-driver-asleep-before-2-empty-trains-crash\/19728248\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/post\/video-appears-show-san-francisco-muni-driver-asleep-before-2-empty-trains-crash\/19728248\/\">KGO<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">\u201cThis type of incident is simply unacceptable,\u201d the agency said. \u201cWhile the formal investigation of the collision is ongoing, vehicle and infrastructure issues have been ruled out, and the initial determination for the incident is operator error caused by fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">The train operator was placed on non-driving status while the officials investigate the crash, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/muni-driver-asleep-l-taraval-train-crash-video\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/muni-driver-asleep-l-taraval-train-crash-video\">KTVU<\/a> reported. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">According to the television station, it was not immediately clear how fast the train was traveling at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">\u201cThe safety of our passengers and operators is our most important priority, and we are grateful that no one was injured,\u201d SFMTA Director of Transportation Julie Kirschbaum said in a statement, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/muni-driver-asleep-l-taraval-train-crash-video\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/muni-driver-asleep-l-taraval-train-crash-video\">KTVU<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a9 2026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Video footage appears to show the moment when a San Francisco train operator nodded off&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[31652,101,103,31654,102,104,106,105,5449,175480,175482,1967,175481],"class_list":["post-442953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-julie-kirschbaum","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-municipal-transportation-agency","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-sfmta","tag-train-operator","tag-train-operator-falls-asleep","tag-transportation","tag-two-trains-crash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}