Two Killed in Avonmore, PA, when SUV plunges down Hillside; Hit by Train

A freak accident on the NS Conemaugh Line
in Western PA:

"A sharp, icy curve on Route 156, a 70-foot embankment, and an
oncoming freight train combined to take two lives this morning
outside Avonmore, a town on the Westmoreland-Armstrong County border.

"Authorities have not identified the victims but said both were
inside a sport-utility vehicle that failed to make a sharp turn near
the Avonmore bridge at about 9:30 a.m. The vehicle left the road,
plunged down a steep 70-foot embankment, and landed upside-down on
railroad tracks below.’

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06044/654757.stm

http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_044095959.html

Dave

My condolences to the familes involved in this incident. God Bless.

I am begining to think that the reason why they plunged off of the 70 foot embankment and fell on the tracks is because of yesterday’s White Out Storm PA received. The roads by this morning and certainly yesterday morning were not extreamly clear or safe. Now, since the report said that they flew off the bridge between the hours of 7:30 - 9:30 am, this tells me that it was day time, and that they must of not have been paying too much attention to the road ahead of them. They also could of been driving too carelessIy or too fast for the road conditions. I also do wonder if this road has protective gaurd rails, and or enough warning signs, telling the driver to make a sharp turn?

It makes one wonder, doesn’t it? That’s just plain bad luck. My heart goes out to the victims families, too.

Sadly, too many folks who druve SUV’s forget that four wheel drive means you skid equally with all four wheels when you hit Ice. I have seen 'way too many folks going highway speed in snowy conditions, forgetting that if you have to have it in 4x4, you might not want to be doing the speed limit…

…What a tragic sequence of events…And some young children in the family…So tragic…{I originate from a nearby county}.