Last year we had a woman kill herself by walking into the middle of the interstate in front of a truck…So in addition to killing herself and leaving her kids without a mom she also hurt the truck driver. Now he will have to live with that.I knew a road conductor who always told me all he could do at a grade crossing was to brace himself and wait for the impact. So suicide hurts the victem, the family and the poor truck driver or locomotive engineer who gets involved through not fault of his or her own.
Another profound revelation. Dude, Do you just post for the sake of posting? That’s frowned upon around here. If you have something to contribute that’s fine, But half your posts just state obvious facts with no aparent point. I’m not trying to be a ****head but you appear to be trolling and that will make the rest of the forum loose respect for you.[;)]
I think he may have a point on this one.
Typically the discussion in this forum about grade crossing accidents tends to focus on the “stupidity” of the driver, for daring to think they can beat the train.
Discussion here focuses on the deceptive speed of locos, the trickiness of multiple track mains, loud stereos, crossing gate confusion, improperly applied auto brakes…etc etc, .all explanations that assume the auto driver didn’t get exactly what they wanted.
I think what sanvtoman is saying , that a suprising number of these crashes might be more the product of insanity instead of stupidity.
The suicide that doesn’t look like a suicide.
I kinda know how they all feel to caus eI drive a bus and we can get the same way. Like if someone walks or runs out in front of my bus and hit them I’m pretty much done cause I would not be able to drive after that cause I will be way to shooken up to do anything and let me tell you that. I have had some really close calls in my day.
Try being me on 6-24 it will be ten years since I was invovled in my fatal accident. Not a day goes by I do not think of what happened.
By doing it that way, the next-of-kin will have a better chance of collecting the life insurance of the deceased. Most insurance policies do not cover suicide.
Good point.
In these grade level accidents, do the railroads generally attempt to collect damages for repairs to the loco ( handrails, stairs, paint, etc) from the estate of the person hit, or do they just absorb it?
Depends…if the “injured party” accepts a settlement, the carriers normally don’t press for the cost of repairs…it is written off.
It is often cheaper to settle out of court than to litigate.
If, on the other hand, a full bore lawsuit kicks in, and the carrier wins, they will file liens and such against the damage to the equipment.
Also, depending on what state the incident happens in, the train crew can and often is sued…which is why most carriers fire the crew ASAP…it distances the carrier from the crew, and in their mind, lessens their liability…it allows the carrier to place a large portion of the “blame” on the crew.
Ed
Geeze!!
I guess I should say something like “that doesn’t surprise me” in this victim obsessed society we live in, after all, the railroad has the deep pockets, so of course that’s who will be made to suffer.
SUXX tho, I’ll say that.
Seems only fair to me that if some guy driving a car comes crashing through the gates and into the train, the RR should get to send a nice fat bill to the guy’s insurance company.
But then I guess this is the real world, where nothing HAS to be fair.
Think of the police officer’s that have the job of being in a standoff with a gun waving mad man who pretends to try and take a shot at you just to get you to shoot him.That’s been known facts.People are just that crazy to try crap like that.I’ve been involved in several crossing accidents resulting in one direct fatality.And to hear several years later that the young person had been arguing with a girlfriend just before the crossing accident.Could be a bad rumor,it’s a very small community.It makes you wonder sometimes about people.I know I really thought about the first incident for along time.It went over and over in my head all the time it seemed.Railroads offer help for the train crews when things like this happens.What added insult to the first crossing accident was the fact the deceased victims family tried to sue me personally for $5 millon dollars.What is it people say.It’s not always what it looks like.So sanvtoman thank you from all of us that ride the rails for thinking of us.It’s great when people care. [:D][^]
Ed, when did they start doing that? I never had my “status” changed after an incident. Sent for a UA, but that was about it. And even the UA test only happened once. I was told by an ex-official that the reason they stopped doing UA’s after an incident with the public, was that there was an extra liability issue if the UA came back dirty.
In addition, that policy seems rather harsh, even for a railroad. Here is a person who is dealing with the after-trauma of an accident, and then they have to be concerned about their job as well? I would imagine that in times like that, one would be very glad to have a union behind him.