Toddler killed by train in Gary, Indiana.

If you have seen the video of that poor child’s family you will see the Grandmother would have trouble getting out of her own chair (gravity challenged) let alone chase down a little two year old kid…WHERE WAS THE MOTHER WHO WATCHED HIM GET HIT?.

Somebody else on this thread mentioned kiddie harnesses / leashes…well, I know for a fact they work, because as a little kid in the 1950’s I had to be restrained by my Mother with just such a harness as I PERSONALLY had a habit of trying to run away from my Mom due to pure curiosity and excess energy and the harness was the only way she could be 100% SURE she knew where I was at all times when she took me shopping in the city (I grew up in the NYC suburbs). Some may think such a thing is cruel, but folks as you can see I am still here to talk about it, and perhaps the little autistic kid would be as well if his family paid more attention to his whereabouts (I could say more of what is on my mind about this tragedy but I won’t due to many of you possibly thinking me to be insensitive).

The ignorence being displayed in this Thread by some folks is disgusting.

The fact being the story is a tragedy for all involved.

Yes, a tragedy indeed and one that could likely have been avoided by the reported evidence and one that is likely to be repeated if folks don’t get their heads screwed on tight and practice common sense and stop blaming everybody else and not themselves for their own faults.

There was an episode from the first season of Rescue 911 that had a very similar scenario. I believe it happened in New Jersey. A mom came home from shopping, got the two young kids (one barely able to walk on his own) out of the car, and left the older one to watch the toddler while she unloaded groceries. Without her knowing it, the kids (playing outside) made it through the woods behind their house and out onto the tracks. The conductor managed to grab the kids off the tracks before they were run over. The mother said on the show that parents should never wait for something like that to happen before building a fence or taking proper precautions.

I feel bad for everybody involved but mostly for the child (who didn’t know it wasn’t safe) and the train crew (who were helpless and unable to do anything).

Kevin

http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html

http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html

I agree with your thinking, Ed, but the situation you cite in the church was temporary and almost virtually unforeseeable, Having a CSX mainline running within a few feet of an impaired child’s home is an accident waiting to happen, IMHO.

The part about the grandparents leaving was heard on the 11AM news on WLS-TV, Chicago, ABC7. You can view it here as long as the link is good:

ABC 7 NEWS

What ignorance? Everyone here agrees with you that it was a tragedy. A tragedy for the child, the family, and the train crew. But, as expressed prior to my post, people have GOT to start learning, and start using some common sense. The worst, and most frustrating part for me in this story, and any story involving a death on the tracks is that the accident was TOTALLY preventable.

I wanted to cry when I saw the news story last night, I can only imagine the grief of the family, as well as that of the train crew.

Let’s try the comments concerning the Family involved.

Common sense tells me it was a tragic accident for all involved.

Common sense taught me my world isn’t perfect,accidents happen.

I find the self-righteous smugness of many of the postings on this thread to be disgusting and offensive. Hopefully, most of you will never feel the loss and pain from such an event, whether it involves an adult or a child.

Say what you will about me and my fellow posters…the very bottom line to this story is that the tragedy of the young boy’s death could have been prevented. The one and only question that remains…“COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED BY WHO?”. To each his/her own opinion as to the answer to that question…I know I have mine.

Found the episode: http://youtube.com/watch?v=HC9c1RYzWjs

What does the fact that the mother has facial piercings have to do with anything, does someone with a lot of piercings automatically make them a bad parent? I have three peirceings myself, am I gonna be a bad parent? Anywho… Yeah, it’s sad that it happened but the parent(s) are the one to blame for not watching the child. Worst part is they are probably gonna sue the railroad. Does anyone know if they are or anything else about it?

I’m not coming down on you but Accidents?..common sense tells ME that if you have a impaired child you every flipidy-flip thing possible to make that childs environment safe, I dont care if you make a million dollars a year or 10 dollars a year, that child’s safety at any home where that child is either living in, or being left for care in, is YOUR responsibility, not the RRs, not the trailer parks owner (thats telling), not the neighbors, not the cities, not the police, not the fire departments, not the schools, not the dogs, not anyone elses responsibility, it lies squarely on the parents and family members who let an autistic child get out of an unsecured house, walk thru several hazardous debris piles (what the heck were those? were these in their own yard?) and get well away from the house and thru a torn fence that may or may not have been directly on their property(story is unclear there), and a poor child died, but somehow, according to the family, its the railroads fault?

It is an tragedy indeed, but the events and circumstanses look to point blame and responsibility much closer to home… accidents are preventable, this was cleary preventable.

Heres what I mean, out here on the left coast, all new (and some old) swimming pools are required by building code to have the following: a surrounding fence and gate, an audible alarm on that gate to signal outside and in the house if its open, and a pool cover for when the pool is not in use. Now its like saying when a child drowns in a swiming pool at that had a broken or no gate, or a hole in the surrounding fence, or no fence at all, no audibl

[#ditto]

[quote user=“vsmith”]

I’m not coming down on you but Accidents?..common sense tells ME that if you have a impaired child you every flipidy-flip thing possible to make that childs environment safe, I dont care if you make a million dollars a year or 10 dollars a year, that child’s safety at any home where that child is either living in, or being left for care in, is YOUR responsibility, not the RRs, not the trailer parks owner (thats telling), not the neighbors, not the cities, not the police, not the fire departments, not the schools, not the dogs, not anyone elses responsibility, it lies squarely on the parents and family members who let an autistic child get out of an unsecured house, walk thru several hazardous debris piles (what the heck were those? were these in their own yard?) and get well away from the house and thru a torn fence that may or may not have been directly on their property(story is unclear there), and a poor child died, but somehow, according to the family, its the railroads fault?

It is an tragedy indeed, but the events and circumstanses look to point blame and responsibility much closer to home… accidents are preventable, this was cleary preventable.

Heres what I mean, out here on the left coast, all new (and some old) swimming pools are required by building code to have the following: a surrounding fence and gate, an audible alarm on that gate to signal outside and in the house if its open, and a pool cover for when the pool is not in use. Now its like saying when a child drowns in a swiming pool at that had a broken or no gate, or a hole in the s

Has nothing to do with anyone’s pain.

Sorry, but I don’t think criticizing the old “Gee, I didn’t know it was loaded” or “the gun just went off by itself” approaches in an accident incident followup is being self-righteous or smug. Want to know what I feel right now? Anger at the failure to protect an innocent.

Just like when we’d get a “I never wear a helmet because I like to feel the wind blow free through my hair” motorcyclist who just had his head turned to pudding in an accident incident. And in my case, I have been around such events many, many times.

The true shame in this is that an innocent 2-year-old – impaired or not – is 100 percent safety-dependent on those around him. That’s 100 percent. And this child’s guardians failed him miserably. Had they erected a fence, or put him on a lanyard – ANYTHING to protect him from a very real, very near danger that should have been a surprise to no one – we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.

What galls me is the prevailing attitude of immediately finding someone else to blame – someone else with money, that is.

people say they know how the crew feels, or how they couldnt stop it, bla bla bla. as a engineer who has had 5 fatality incidents let me exsplain how a crew feels. They are pissed, so mad that this happened that a great day was just ruined, for what someone having a moments inattention , causing this incident to happen, then the remorse feeling bad that you killed some one why did this happen. did i do everything what if i did this or that , then mad again anger so great . all of this in the 22 seconds it takes for the train you put in emergency to stop. then you go see if there is survivers, then the hours of sitting there waiting on railroad officials giving statements to cops, fire , then railroad officials when they show up, statements all the time thinking did i do this or that , what if again , the last thing i wanted was to see a news crew, anger again. then here comes a new feeling called fear, who gonna question me next will the railroad throw me to the wolves yes the railroads is not your friend they will protect themselves ( even trucking companies fire drivers in wrecks) here comes fear again then the anger for being in this spot then remorse feeling bad for the dead, and on and on and on. and it seems like it is happening all at once. it dont last a day ( i wish it did) it takes a month to calm down to sleep and several months to try and function properly, and when i get over it i will post it. Is this just me…NO before i had my first incident i chatted with others and they felt this way and still are not over it. On the railroad we have a great help group each other, its not if it will happen its when it happens . I use to be one of those that said I can just imagine how they feel. No you cant I cant think of words that describe how i felt when i killed the last ones. or even the first one.I can say it cause a few more grey hairs. Now its a race to see if they will all turn grey before they all fall out? The next thing is when you

Gee, only 5? When ya gonna get some whiskers, sonny? (just kidding)

I’ve had 18 incidents that resulted in 11 fatalities in my 20 years of running.

You’ll note that above I (as did wabash1) used the term incidents. That was quite intentional on my part. Not one of them was an accident. Each incident was the result of someone doing something they were not supposed to be doing.

I would venture to say that in each incident, there were survivors that mourned their loss, and that they remember each year the day they heard of the fatality, and that they have memories of their loved ones.

But we engineers have the distinct burden of being the person that last saw them alive. We got to see the expression on their faces as they realized that they were about to die. We got to pick up the pieces of the bodies. We got to have the memory of the entire incident permanently burned into our memories, available for recall any time we want (or do not want).

It is, in fact, the law of Indiana that the railroads have to build and maintain the fence. That’s the law. Who broke that one?

How this already contemptible thread turned into the implication that train crews are the genuine victims along with grieving families being the usual “idiots” and “irresponsible” and “deserving of what they get”, etc, etc., etc., ad naseum, with special emphasis on the nauseum is not even a mystery anymore.

If there is any contribution to the world by using – and I mean “using” – the death of a two year old to engage in the usual people-bashing by the usual people-bashers, I still fail to see it.

Half the critics here would be the first ones to the Court House if they sprained their toe on railroad property. This idea that it makes some of you feel morally superior to someone who lives in a trailer house to judge them – and that’s all this thread is is the usual “let’s sit in judgment on some poor Mom somewhere who just lost her kid and show how D*** smart we all are” – is beyond belief.

I’ve been to a few grade crossing accidents. Wasn’t pretty. The difference was that society then, including the railroaders, had the common good sense and decency to not feel compelled to speak ill of the dead or the grieving.

The world isn’t made a better place by these kinds of threads, and the cynical and judgmental vitriol that excites the same participants with each new death, suggests it is a far less decent world than it used to be.

Michael - While you’re right about the “piling on” aspect these threads seem to take, the sentiment is not limited to incidents involving railroads.

I’ve been in Fire and EMS for 30 years. I’ve been out on some incidents that were truly tragic. I was fortunate to miss two incidents involving teenage best friends. One was killed when the car she and her friend were riding in lost control in some slush and hit a pole. Less than two weeks later the other was killed when the car she was riding in lost control in slush and was broadsided by another car.

On the other hand, I’ve been to several incidents where it was possible to get a contact high from the victims and the alcohol on their breath. I have little sympathy for them. They made a stupid decision and paid for it.

The tragedy of this particular incident is undeniable. Our outrage is with those immediately responsible for the welfare of the child apparently trying to transfer that responsibility elsewhere.

Fact is, we’re tired of hearing about people dying like this. Make it stop!

All in the name of safety. Cage and leash the Kid like a Dog. You’re belief in 100% safety

is certainly unrealistic. It would also seem that some folks never heard of unpreventable accidents. What galls me is the lack of compassion being exhibited by some.

After reading this thread, I also feel many of the posters come across with an undeniable air of self-righteousness. Certainly this tragedy could have been avoided as most accidents can. But the tone of the posters makes it sound like they NEVER do anything wrong. As a father, I try to take the precautions necessary to keep my children safe. However, I think that but for some luck many situations around us that could turn tragic some of which I am sure others would critic us for if they occurred. As the good book says “Let them without fault throw the first stone.” I am impressed how many perfect parents visit this site.