I am doing this on the spur of the moment. Can't stop thinking about the 3 little Miller girls and their parents who were killed in Aurora, Colorado at an ungated railroad crossing. I have been following the incoming passenger train progress here on the Treasure Coast in Florida and pitching in now and then to help stop them, but it looks like they are going to come barrelling through our beautiful shoreline towns in spite of ours and our representatives' efforts.
I joined the fight once I realized that my toddler granddaughter, who had then just moved here, may be traveling over those tracks several times attending school in the future, and now that future has come. Today she registers for kindergarten, however I do not think her school route will necessitate crossing the tracks, thank God. But other children may not be so lucky.
And so I thought about the miller children, below, with only 4-year-old Heidi surviving the catastrophe:
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Steve Miller, Christina Miller, and
their three girls: Abigail 6, Kathryn 2, Elliana 8 months old were all killed.
Sole survivor was Heidi, 4 years old
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Look at them, their happiness, their future generations, all the lovely living times they will miss on this planet along with their parents, all because the railroad industry does not HAVE to put gates, lights and bells at every single crossing. Why is this not a crime? And why do they always blame it on the driver or walker? It's a travesty of justice.
In my view, freight companies are to blame mainly, however passenger train proponents, the FRA, the NTSB, FECI (Florida East Coast Industries), Fortress Investment Group, Brightline (formerly All Aboard Florida), and the US Department of Transportation people should not be sleeping nights either. Historically and presently freight has stiff competition from the trucking industry and does whatever they can to cut costs, including allowing passenger trains to use their old outdated tracks, which they know will eventually get updated because of safety concerns--with taxpayer money. In turn, passenger trains get all kinds of "found" money from the taxpayers via the Federal government as the train proponents push "green" transportation and make us believe this is a necessary evil, even though it has been proven to be unsafe and financially unsustainable. Local governments pay too especially if they fall for the "Quiet Zones" in the form of releasing the RR from financial responsibility in cases of accidents as they shift liability over to the Taxpayers.
For about 6 months I kept a database of some of the daily deaths associated with train travel, mostly Googling "Hit by a train," but eventually it was too much sadness and I was losing sleep, and so gave it up. But in June I Googled it again and the Miller children popped up, 6, 2, Heidi-4, and 8 months, and my passion was once again renewed. This is the only thing I could think of to continue educating people on the dangers of trains barreling through our towns, and what an outmoded means of travel it is. Also, the promise of towns where trains go through have little promise of becoming the towns their founders imagined generations ago.
Perhaps I will also drop this blog, maybe it's a bad idea. But for today while I still think it's a good idea, here is yesterday's accident: (important information highlighted in yellow), and I hope to just upload one accident per day.
POTEAU, Okla. -- Police in eastern Oklahoma say four people are dead and one is injured after a train hit the car they were riding in.
Around 1:30 p.m. an adult female was driving a Chevy Malibu going east on Dewey Avenue when a train traveling north crashed into her car, CBS affiliate KFSM reported.
The adult female driver and three juveniles were killed in the crash. One surviving juvenile was flown to a Tulsa area hospital.
TV station KHBS reports the Kansas City Southern train did not derail and the conductor and engineer were not injured.
There are no cross bars at this railroad crossing, KFSM reported.
Poteau is about 15 miles from the Arkansas border.
Here's an interesting site if you care to read about more scary incidents:
http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/railroad.aspx
... and here's an older one, but quite informative:
http://fortune.com/2016/01/12/fortress-capital-florida-rail-funds/
... And here's another one from June, coming to a town near you:
http://dot111.info/2016/06/25/railroad-blamed-for-fiery-oil-train-derailment-along-columbia-river-gorge/
Sadly,
Judy Burgarella
Blogger
DAILY TRAIN DEATHS - AUGUST 8, 2016
A man was killed Monday morning after the SUV he was driving was struck by a Metra SouthWest Service train in Oak Lawn, officials said.
The crash happened about 7:40 a.m. where the tracks cross Central Avenue near 97th Street, according to Oak Lawn Fire Chief George Sheets and Metra spokesman Tom Miller.
The man was identified as Arthur Hornsby, 59, of Oak Lawn, the Cook County medical examiner's office said.
Witnesses told Metra police that the driver either drove his white Honda Pilot around or through downed warning gates at the crossing, Miller said. Bells and lights at the crossing were functioning, Miller said.
Comment from me: Why on earth does the railroad industry make warning gates passable in any way? And why is blame always assessed at the scene by a railroad employee (Metra police) before any formal investigation or legal hearing takes place?
Comment from me: Why on earth does the railroad industry make warning gates passable in any way? And why is blame always assessed at the scene by a railroad employee (Metra police) before any formal investigation or legal hearing takes place?
ALEM, OR (KPTV) -
A man sitting on railroad tracks in Salem died after being hit by a train Monday morning.
Emergency crews responded to the scene near Market Street Northeast at 7 a.m.
Investigators said an Amtrak train heading north at 34 mph hit a man wearing only boxer shorts and sitting on the tracks with his back to the train.
When the engineer spotted the man, he used the train's emergency brake and sounded the horn, but the man did not move. The train was unable to stop in time.
The man who was hit was identified Monday afternoon as 22-year-old Kai Carr who lived nearby in northeast Salem.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Salem Police Department.
The train was delayed for one hour and 45 minutes while police investigated.
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Yet another train accident has claimed a life in Alabama. It happened in Jefferson County where a man apparently fell asleep on a set of Alabaster railroad tracks. He was hit and killed Sunday by a CSX freight train.
The tracks are near Highway 31. The man's identity wasn't immediately known. It was the fourth train accident in Alabama in the past week.
On Thursday, four people died in an accident in Chilton County as a van full of people tried to cross tracks near Thorsby. Four others in the van were injured. There were no traffic barriers at the crossing.
Two more incidents involving trains were reported in Bessemer last week. There were no fatalities reported in those accidents.
Comment from me: "Apparently fell asleep," according to whom
August 12, 2016
A man was struck and killed crossing train tracks near the Amtrak station in High Point this morning, the News & Record reported.
The incident happened about 8:40 a.m. Friday at the intersection of North Centennial Street and East Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and involved an Amtrak passenger train, police said.
The crash was about a half-mile before the Amtrak station at 100 W. High Ave. The man died at the scene, said Capt. Mike Kirk.
The man has identification on him and police are trying to confirm his identity, Kirk said.
He estimated the train was going about 30 to 35 miles per hour, as it was slowing to go to the station, Kirk said.
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A young boy is recovering from serious injuries tonight, after his leg is severed by a train. Rescue crews were called to the scene just after 6:00 pm tonight, near the tracks off of East 12th Street and the Bayfront connector. According to investigators, they arrived to find a 10 year old boy laying near the tracks. We're told, that his right leg was amputated just below the knee. Police say the train conductor, who was headed south, never saw the boy and didn't know it happened. The victim was rushed to UPMC-Hamot and flown to Pittsburgh for treatment.
Was the conductor busy doing something else and not watching the tracks?
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August 13, 2016
A woman who was walking along the railroad tracks in Westminster was struck and killed by a train early Saturday afternoon, according to the Westminster Police Department.
The woman was walking north in “very close proximity” to the railroad tracks at about 1:35 p.m. near the 10500 block of Wadsworth Boulevard, south of Lower Church Lake, when a northbound train approached. The operator of the Burlington Northern Railroad train spotted the woman, sounded the horn and applied the brakes, but it appears that the woman did not hear the train, said investigator Kate Kazell of the Westminster Police Department.
Preliminary police investigation shows that the woman may have been wearing headphones, Kazell said.
The woman, who has not yet been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Westminster Police are working in conjunction with Burlington Northern Railroad on the investigation. No additional information was expected to be available on Saturday, Kazell said.
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A train struck and killed a person in Winona Friday night.
KEYC says it happened just before 11 p.m.
The person – whose identity has not been released yet – was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities tell the Post Bulletin.
This is the fourth time this year a pedestrian has been killed by a train in Winona, the paper reports.
The first incident happened in January. A 25-year-old Winona State University student fell on the tracks early one morning and was struck.
Then in February, a 63-year-old man crawled under a stationary train and was run over when it started moving.
The third incident happened later that month. The Winona Daily News reported the man had been sitting on the tracks and smoking a cigarette prior to getting hit
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – One person is dead after being hit by a train just north of the Kentucky Fair and Expo Center Saturday.
According to police, a person was on the tracks near Mayfield Avenue and Crittenden Drive when they were hit by a CSX train around 4:30 p.m.
Police said the person died at the scene, but don't suspect any foul play. WHAS11 spoke to a lady named Diana Lush who works next door at PRP Pizza.
Lush said it's common to see trains pass through here several times a day, but she never sees people walking on or near the tracks. She was driving to work when she got stopped by the train on the other side of the intersection. Lush said she heard the train blowing its whistle as it came through the intersection, which she said it always does.
"The train stops was coming down and the train started coming through, and I was the first one there and it didn't go very far down, just maybe 70 feet, 70 or 80 feet. It stopped, and it came to a complete stop. I sat there and waited for it to back up or do whatever it was going to do, and I saw a guy get out of the front car where the motor is and was looking underneath the cars and stuff. Then a few minutes later, an ambulance pulled up, so I knew something bad had happened," Lush said. "I can't imagine somebody walking on the tracks though in broad daylight and get hit by a train or something, it's sad."
The victim's gender, age, or name haven't been released.
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One person has died after getting struck by an Amtrak train in Mansfield.
At about 10:50 a.m., dispatchers in Mansfield received a call from MBTA Police advising them of a person struck by a train south of the Mansfield MBTA Train Station.
Mansfield police and fire responded to the scene near Norfolk Street, stopped the train and confirmed the death.
During the investigation, all trains on the Providence line were held. As of 1 p.m., the line is running 90 minutes behind schedule.
The incident is under investigation by Amtrak and Mansfield Detectives. The identity of the person involved is not being released pending notification of the victim’s family.
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This one is out of sequence, however 2 more deaths at a RR crossing with no crossing arms, and inclement weather.
WHITE CASTLE, LA (WAFB) -
Officials said two people were killed when their car was hit by a train in the White Castle area Thursday.
The Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office reported the car was hit in the area of LA 1 and Dorsey Road. Sheriff Brett Stassi confirmed two people are dead.
The two victims have been identified as a sister and brother from Baton Rouge, 42-year-old Myra Henderson and 41-year-old Byron Henderson. Stassi said that the two siblings were on their way to a wake.
Investigators believe heavy rain was the primary factor in the crash. The crossing is not outfitted with crossing bars.
