Anyone who has ridden the T couldn't possibly be surprised that there's a party going on somewhere behind the scenes.  I've been on some pretty bumpy rides over the years. It's all good fun until someone ends up with serious head injuries and facial lacerations, innit?  So revelations that two recent incidents on the T involving injuries to passengers or passersby involved coked-up, drunk or drugged-out drivers only confirm suspicions, and further affirm the standards of service we've come to expect from the MBTA.

Even more heartening than the promised firings of the drivers — post-passenger head trauma, of course — is the reaction of the Carmen's Union President-Treasurer (that doesn't sound like a corrupt combo at all, does it?):  "we would encourage and expect all our members to conduct themselves in their personal lives in a manner that puts public safety first." What does being high on the job have to do with the driver's "personal life"?  It ceases to be a personal problem when you bring it to work with you.

The management of the T and the Unions are only part of the problem, of course.  Federal rules are too lax, too.  According to the Globe:

The MBTA screens all crew members involved in crashes for drugs and alcohol immediately after the incidents. The T also tests employees before hiring them and, as required under federal rules, performs random tests on employees with safety-sensitive jobs. Twenty-five percent of these employees are tested for drugs every year, while 10 percent are tested for alcohol.

Given the number of people riding the T, testing a quarter of your workers for drugs and only ten percent for alcohol once a year is obviously appallingly inadequate.

As always, T-spokesman Joe Pesaturo gets it dead wrong when he touts the T's great health care benefits, which offer treatment for substance abuse, as if the MBTA were a branch of social services.  When backed into a corner, you can always look to Pesaturo for a jaw-dropper, and this time out he really delivers:  "There are numerous ways for employees to get help if they want it," he told the Globe.  If they want it?  And what if they don't?  What if they like driving trains coked-up?  What if it's fun for them?  Then what, Joe?

And is there a way — never mind "numerous ways" — for riders to get help?  I mean, before the head trauma and facial lacerations?