How did the oil-train editor miss this huge development?

Growing traffic congestion on local roads and at the Hudson River crossings -- and the lack of mass-transit alternatives -- is among the untold stories of 2014 as Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to shoot himself in the foot with one inaccurate column after another. In his Sunday column, he identified the wrong group of drivers as being the second most vulnerable to crashes, and gave the wrong advice on how to position your hands on the steering wheel in the event you have to steer out of an accident.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Since July at least, The Record has published a steady stream of stories, opinion pieces and editorials on trains carrying potentially explosive crude oil through Bergen County towns.

But the assignment editors and environmental reporters missed a huge development a few weeks ago.

On Nov. 6, a front-page story reports today, the Christie administration "quietly approved" a permit that allows rail lines to carry billions of gallons of Canadian tar-sands oil "through densely populated towns, past thousands of homes and businesses" (A-1).

This is the same type of oil that would be transported in the Keystone XL pipeline. 

A bill to approve construction of the controversial project was defeated in the U.S. Senate a week ago.

Today's story doesn't mention the trains pass through Teaneck, where residents have demonstrated against the danger and the endless noise from engineers' horn blowing.

On Christie's train

Governor Christie has been dismantling the state's environmental protections since he took office in 2010, but the editors have been so busy grooming the GOP bully for a White House run they missed the DEP action on the tar-sands oil trains just two days after the Nov. 4 election.

Instead, in the days after the election, The Record published at least two stories by Staff Writer Melissa Hayes and a Charles Stile column on what a great job Christie did raising money for conservative Republican candidates in other states.

The Record's editors and reporters have been so giddy over the prospects that Christie might get the Republican presidential nomination they have neglected reporting, until very recently, what an awful job he is doing in New Jersey.

Second look

When you see a Road Warrior column in the paper, you can safely assume much of the information in it is incorrect.

The normal journalistic checks and balances are dispensed with in the editing of anything written by Staff Writer John Cichowski, and his many errors are rarely subject to published corrections.

In his Sunday column, for example, he incorrectly reported "baby boomer grandparents" are the second most vulnerable group of drivers on the road.

In fact, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers, drivers 65 and older, including those in their 70s, 80s and even 90s, are more likely to be involved in road crashes and fatalities.

"In his Sunday column, the Road Warrior provides a very dim-witted and mistake-filled report about how young drivers (under 21) and older drivers (over 64) are more susceptible to road crashes and fatalities, along with advice and resources that these drivers should heed.

"The worst thing the Road Warrior did was to report that AAA suggests that drivers should hold the steering wheel at the 7 and 4 o'clock positions instead of 10 and 2.

"AAA recommends that drivers should hold the steering wheel at 9 and 3 o'clock positions for safe road driving.

"They state that drivers may prefer a slightly lower hand position, closer to 8 and 4 o'clock, depending on personal preference and position of the steering wheel spokes.

"In fact, the AAA and so many traffic safety experts indicate that it is downright dangerous to hold the steering wheel at the 7 o'clock position since it does not give the driver full control of the steering wheel during any type of evasive maneuver to avoid an accident."

Click on the following link for more corrections:

Road Warrior accuracy continues to take a holiday