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Union Pacific wants city, parade organizers held responsible for deadly Texas crossing accident
I hope this goes through. It was a terrible accident but c’mon, the crossing signals and warnings worked properly, the train crew blew the horn & applied the brakes. When a truck driver stops on a live railroad track you have to wonder if they had a license to operate the vehicle, never operated before, or on drugs. Remember, the train can only follow the rails, this isn’t Tootle chasing butterflies & flowers through the field.
The Grand Jury folks must be related to the driver, don’t ya think?
The City of Midland as well as the organisers of that parade have to be seriously brain-dead for authorizing the parade route to cross a busy mainline. Both parties should be sued.
All of the above comments are correct, good spirited and righteous.
NTSB said that the truck entered the crossing “even though crossing bells were sounding and crossing lights were flashing.”
‘Nuff said."
Or does a flashing red traffic governing light mean something other than stop and proceed if safe.
Grand Jury, let me remind you of the immortal word of your ridiculeable gov of the wonderful (as in I wonder what the…) state of Tex…the next letters might be thought to be descriptive if I mistyped and added a trailing S’
BUTT, he did say “OOPS.”
Simple contact with between UP and Midland may have prevented this. Adairsville, GA has a downtown festival every fall with events and festivities within feet of the CSX mainline. CSX is notified in advance and trains are under slow orders through town for the duration of the event. Midland, the Heros organization, and the truck drivers were solely responsible for this totally preventable accident.
Typical its always the railroads fault. Just like when a kid walking down the tracks with headphones on and gets killed who does the mother blame?
A grand jury declined to indict the driver? So, how did that come to pass? Did his foot not descend upon the gas pedal even as he heard and saw the warning bell and lights activate? Was his intention not to race the train in clearing the intersection, only to get stuck behind another truck and trailer who couldn’t or wouldn’t move out of his way? Well, maybe he wept during the proceedings and thusly tugged at their heartstrings, but then he probably has no money, but UP does? So far as I can tell, and in my opinion, UP is completely guiltless in this situation and should be declared as such.
This story proves that even the people who are supposed to know better can still forget the basic rules of safety. The blame game doesn’t bring back the victims or erase the memory of the accident for those involved.
South of Chicago, CN is notified of parade/town activities and adjusts its train movements accordingly; in this case, it’s very sad that the UP wasn’t.
Did the truck driver have a valid CDL? If so, it should be revoked. All drivers, and especially truck drivers, are taught NOT to cross the tracks unless they can clear the tracks completely.
The story states that the lights and gates “activated as the truck was stopped on the tracks.” So apparently when the driver entered the crossing, the lights we not operating yet. Then he came to a stop on the tracks. Presumably he was unable to pull forward when the train approached because he was already jammed up against the vehicle in front of him.
In any case, it’s perfectly obvious the fault for the accident lies with the driver of the truck, and the parade organizers for failing to coordinate with the city to make sure the route was safe for a parade.
So why are the laywers going after the railroad? No mystery there. They’re suing the railroad for the same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks: “That’s where the money is.”
I’ve read the facts and I too agree that the UP is not at all at fault but yet a victim of others negligence and stupidity ass well as poor planning on the parade organizers part. Unfortunatly people (good people) our Vets died now the blood sucking bastard lawyers got their hands in it to make a buck. They are the only ones who benefit in these cases. Everyone else loses.
The incident could have been completely avoided if the organizers would have used a highway underpass located approximately one mile east of the crossing where the accident occurred. Maybe the parade route would have been inconvenienced by doing this but certainly it would have avoided any chance of being hit by a train and subsequent loss of life.
It would seem that Union Pacific is right in this instance.
It would seem that Union Pacific is right in this instance.
Why is this even going to trial. What could UP have done, not their fault. The truck driver should be charged. ’
Why is this even going to trial. What could UP have done, not their fault. The truck driver should be charged. ’
Mr. Carlin, I’m not from Texas, but I have lived there several years, even though I am not there now. I don’t know enough about Mr. Perry to comment on him or not, but the response to the “I wonder what the…” statement, the full question is “I wonder what the State of Texas is going to do with all of these former CA jobs and folks moving into the state?”
As a veteran of 20 years of military service myself, it’s simple logic based on the facts of this case, that anyone involved with the organization and operation of this parade should be charged with dereliction of duty. UP is 100% innocent of any culpability for anything in conjuction with this accident.