Investigation and Aftermath
Subsequent investigation revealed that Martin had been smoking marijuana and had four marijuana cigarettes in his shoulder bag. He also had a poor safety record and was responsible for an earlier derailment, and he had a tendency to talk to passengers while driving the train. It is theorized that, having made the normal station stop before the curve, Martin had caused the restrictive cab signal caused by the train ahead to be overridden. Distracted, he then left the station at under 15 miles per hour, which was slow enough to not trigger the automatic control, and then after the initial collision, panic or inertia caused him to move the Cineston controller forward resulting in the derailment.
As a result of the accident, the CTA forbade motormen to proceed past a red signal "on sight" without first getting permission from the Control Center.
Read more about this topic: 1977 Chicago Loop Derailment
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