Roberts's Encouraging Start

There was truth to the lament by some transit workers last week that safety is sometimes disregarded in the subways in the name of efficiency.

New York City Transit President Howard Roberts seems to appreciate the danger of the jobs of many employees. His letter to them acknowledged the risks they take, and cautioned them not to become too casual about safety rules simply because the danger doesn't seem obvious until tragedy is bearing down on them.

Past transit officials have sometimes seemed determined to blame workers for their own deaths, as if they blithely took risks and deserved to have that trumpeted even while their loved ones were mourning them. It may be that management was merely staking out a legal position against civil suits to follow. No one, however, would have credited those officials with empathy, as Mr. Roberts was last week by Transport Workers' Union Local 100 Secretary/Treasurer Ed Watt.

The proof will ultimately be in how strictly NYC Transit adheres to its call for greater safety, but Mr. Roberts so far has hit the right notes in reaction to the two recent Track Worker deaths.