Crossing accident question....

Forgive the morbid topic of this post, but have there been a number of fatal accidents in western New York at crossings besides our very publicized one in Henrietta recently? I'm going somewhere with this, eventually, but I am looking to find when they might have been, and go from there.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Dave Becker

I know that several people have been killed while illegally crossing the tracks in East Rochester..
that has always been a problem area..

and..we had the well-known incident a few years ago where the 2 teenagers (also illegally trespassing..I feel its important to keep that in mind) were killed on the bridge over the canal in Pittsford.

and recently, a jogger was killed while trespassing along the tracks in Brighton (or was it pittsford?)
but he wasnt killed by a train, he was electrocuted by a live wire..

and of course we had the recent car-train collision in Henrietta..
that is one accident where the victims were truly innocent..the railroad was fully to blame..but thats very rare.

Scot

There are many people who have been hit...and actually, not to debate the extent of the accident in Henrietta (CSX is to blame, but weren't elementary traffic rules regarding crossings ignored by the driver? I vaguely remember that...), I am interested in only crossing accidents involving deaths. Thanks in advance.

Dave again

well yeah, I suppose technically one could argue that the driver in Heniretta should have seen it coming..
but...no gates were down, no flashing lights, and the train had orders to stop. approaching the crossing, there was no indication a train was seconds away..alhough I image the horm must have been blaring..
so in that case, I guess you could say the victim was partially to blame..but the railroad deserves about 90% of the blame for that one in my opinion..but we have been over all that before, no real need to debate that one any further..

in the other incidents, and in the VAST majority of train related deaths, the trespassers were 100% to blame for their own deaths.
it really annoys me when people blame the railroad when some idiot was walking down the middle of the tracks and got hit..
but..thats a whole 'nother topic..
(although..I suppose its impossible to discuss train related deaths without debating that aspect of it as well...but lets try to not get this thread locked! I wont say anyomore about it...nothing more to say really...

Scot

I've been at grade crossings where the engineer didn't blow the horn, gave it a little toot realizing it was too late to do the required short-short-long-short, or the horn was so aenemic that you could barely hear it at all.

As for fatal accidents in WNY... there was one on the Falls Road a few years ago, but that was at an unprotected private crossing that I believe only had crossbucks and the driver failed to stop and look.

You can pull FRA safety data off their website (I don't know exactly where it's buried in there - but it is there). It includes FRA inspection data, injuries, fatalities, etc. for all railroads. I don't believe it does a break down for large railroads by state - but then again I haven't been to that website in a couple of years either.

I think with the exception of the accident in Henrietta this past winter, by and large the vast majority of crossing fatalities are the fault of the motorist. It's unfortunate that the local media blew the CSX incident way out of proportion - but it did lead to needed crossing improvements.

That last sentence is the point...what I'm looking for is media coverage of said fatal accidents in WNY...because a large amount of the coverage for this couple can be attributed to whom they were related to, and who they knew. I am NOT letting the railroad off the hook, but just the same....

I want to get data to provide examples before I pop off on this.

Dave

Just to clarify, it's long long short long, not short short long short.

NIMBYkiller wrote:Just to clarify, it's long long short long, not short short long short.

Yup, that too!

pablo wrote:That last sentence is the point...what I'm looking for is media coverage of said fatal accidents in WNY...because a large amount of the coverage for this couple can be attributed to whom they were related to, and who they knew. I am NOT letting the railroad off the hook, but just the same....

For some reason, the media has their "darlings". Old couples, pretty blonde girls, etc. Had the fatality been some regular 30 yr old schlub, it would have been yesterday's news while the body was still warm.

This should be the FRA website with safety data, but it appears to be down right now: http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/

Agreed...imagine if it had been a bus of infants or small children? It would be something we'd never forget...

But with the accident in question, the things I've heard (from about 3 different sources) suggest that much of the exhaustive coverage (notably the D&C articles) come from some pressure to beat the dead horse.

I know how cold that sounds because of the deaths involved. Of course, the other way of looking at things is that if every fatality got this much pub, there would be less, which would be good all around. But I digress...

Dave Becker

I know this will fire a few people up, and NO, I'm not trying to take CSX's portion of the blame away from this tradgedy. But, I wish to pass some knowledge to all to please use caution when ever near or approaching a RR crossing, lights, gates working or not.

New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law section 1170
(a) Whenever any person driving a vehicle appraoches a railroad grade crossing under ANY of the circumstances stated in this section, the driver of such vehicle shall stop not less then fifteen feet from the nearest rail of such railroad, and shall not proceed untill he can do so safely. The foregoing requirements shall apply when:
1. An audible or clearly visible electric or mechanical signal device gives warning of the immediate approach of a railroad train;
2. A crossing gate is lowered or when a human flagman gives or continues to give a signal of the approach or passage of a railroad train;
3. A railroad train approaching within approximately one thousand five hundred feet of the highway crossing emits a signal audible from such distance and such railroad train, by reason of it's speed or nearness to such crossing, is an immediate hazard; or
4. An approaching railroad train is plainly visible and is in hazardous proximity to such crossing.

This is the law. Any motorist, approaching ANY RR crossing must approach that crossing prepared to stop. if a train is visible or sounding it's horn/bell, or close to the crossing the vehiocle must stop and yeild the trains Right of Way, regardless if the gates and lights are working or not. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for violating it.