Page "Dead man's switch" Paragraph 6

With modern urban and suburban railway systems, the driver is typically alone in an enclosed cab.

Automatic devices were already beginning to be deployed on newer installations of the New York City Subway system in the early 20th century.

The Malbone Street Wreck on the Brooklyn Rapid Transit system in 1918, though not caused by driver incapacitation, did spur the need for universal deployment of such devices to halt trains in the event of the operator's disability.

According to Manhattan borough historian Michael Miscione, there have been at least three instances where the dead-man's switch was used successfully – in 1927, 1940, and 2010.