Train Liability and Accidents
Every hundred (100) minutes, someone in America dies as a result of being struck by a train. The occupant of a motor vehicle that collides with a train, is forty (40) times more likely to die, than if they had collided with another motor vehicle.
Out of the more than 300,000 rail grade crossings in the United States, more than 80% of all public railroad crossings don’t have lights and gates; one third of these crossings have no active warning device of any kind. Motorists are made unknowingly susceptible by the liability of an approaching train. Warning time is often minimal to nonexistent.
More than half of all railroad mishaps occur at these unprotected crossings. For those lucky enough to survive, the injuries sustained are typically life threatening, requiring extensive surgical intervention, many necessitating amputation. Thus the type of injury which results from a motor vehicle colliding with a train or a child playing on or around a railroad track only emphasizes the need for limited access to railway areas and increased warning devices.
Trains cannot stop in time to prevent a collision from occurring. For while an automobile traveling fifty (50) miles per hour requires approximately fifty (50) feet to come to a stop, it takes a train over a mile and a half to stop traveling from the same rate of speed.
While grade crossing warning signals have become more high-tech and rail traffic has steadily increased, the railroads responsible for maintenance have continuously reduced their workforce, leaving the public at increased risk.
Liability can be established against the railroad by proving vegetation was allowed to grow too high in the right of way, blocking the view of both the engineer and the driver of the vehicle. Often, engineers don’t blow the required whistle sequence because the whistle is so deafeningly loud in the cab of the train.
The train’s "black box" can be retrieved which will show use of the whistle and speed of the train prior to impact. Communications between the train crew and dispatchers are recorded. These recordings, through contentious discovery, can be key in establishing liability against the railroad.
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