Articles Posted in Train Accidents

Jack Mabee, 17, of Oxnard, died in a train accident in Ventura when an Amtrak Surfliner train hit the car in which he was riding. According to an article in the Ventura County Star, Mabee was riding in the front passenger seat of a sedan traveling on a farm road near Victoria Avenue and Olivas Park Drive when the driver, 18-year-old Jordan Hernandez of Oxnard, drove onto a railroad crossing and into the path of the Amtrak train.

California Highway Patrol officials said the train sheared the car in two. Mabee died at the scene and Hernandez was admitted to an area hospital with major injuries to his head and torso. The railway crossing apparently had signs, but did not have a mechanical cross arm or flashing lights.

My heart goes out to the families of both Mabee and Hernandez. Please keep them in your prayers.
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A Texas jury has awarded $10.9 million to the family of a woman who was killed after her truck was hit by a train at a railway crossing in Louisiana. According to an Associated Press news report, the family plans to the use the money to care for Patsy Adroin’s 4-year-old daughter, Jasmine Cezar, who survived the horrific accident, but is paralyzed from the chest down as a result of the July 2005 crash.

The crash reportedly occurred when Adroin stopped at a stop sign in front of the said crossing at Vinta, La., which did not have any automatic gates or lights, the article said. When Adroin then drove on over the tracks, she got hit by a passing Union Pacific train. Jurors, who deliberated after a trial that lasted more than two weeks, assigned 65 percent of the blame on Union Pacific, 15 percent on Adroin and 20 percent on the state of Louisiana.

Union Pacific officials say they will appeal the case and are disappointed by the verdict. The company has also sued the town of Vinton and Adroin’s estate, which is still pending.
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A Colorado Appellate Court on Thursday upheld an $11.8 million judgment against Union Pacific Railroad after a 2002 train versus car collision in Castle Rock, Colo., severely injured a local teenager. According to a news article in The Denver Business Journal,
Maureen Martin was only 16 years old as she was driving to a high school class on Nov. 12, 2002. Her car reportedly stalled at a grade crossing of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. Maureen’s boyfriend, who was following her in his truck, tried to push her car off the tracks, but couldn’t do it in time. Maureen’s car got hit by the train.

She was in a coma for two months after the accident. Maureen had suffered severe brain injuries and now after five years, still has slurred speech. The appellate court asked the trial court to look into the matter of whether the girl and her family should get triple the punitive damages originally awarded by the jury, the article said.

The article also says that the particular crossing where the train accident occurred had been “the subject of community debate for years.” In fact, Maureen’s accident was reportedly the fourth at that location since 1980. The lawsuit filed by Maureen and her parents alleged negligence on the part of the railroad and engineer. What was the railroad’s defense? That the train would not have hit Martin’s car if her boyfriend hadn’t tried to push it through the crossing and that Martin could’ve gotten out of the car and escaped when she heard the train’s whistle. Not only that, they said Martin “trespassed” on Union Pacific’s tracks!
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A Metro Gold Line train from Pasadena derailed at a Highland Park crossing last week after it rammed into a pickup truck injuring six people and pushing many passengers out of their seats. According to a news report in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, witnesses told officials that the driver of the pickup may have been chatting on the cell phone or for some reason did not pay attention to the stop signal. There were 60 passengers on the train at the time of the incident, the newspaper reported.

Investigators are looking into the causes of the train accident and don’t know at this point if the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs or if he was distracted by a cell phone. Some passengers reported neck and back pain from the impact of the train crash. The driver of the pickup truck did not suffer any major injuries, officials said. Once the collision occurred there was widespread panic on the train as it rocked and derailed, passengers told the newspaper.
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Officials investigating a fatal car-train collision in Covina, which took the lives of a 53-year-old man and his 10-year-old niece and left his 12-year-old daughter in critical condition, have ruled that the crossing arms at that site were all functioning properly.

Contradicting reports surfaced after this collision, which happened the afternoon of June 17. According to an article posted on KNBC’s Web site, witnesses saw that the arm at the crossing never came down. Those accounts clashed with initial accounts that the man may have been trying to make it across the tracks before the Metrolink train went through. Earl Brown, the driver of the Mitsubishi Galant and his 10-year-old niece, Raven Elizabeth Smith, both of Covina, were killed, officials said.

The Metrolink train had 150 passengers aboard and fortunately no one was hurt. The train, which was traveling from Union Station to Riverside, was reportedly traveling at 40 mph when it entered the crossing where the accident occurred. The collision pushed the car about 75 feet from where it was hit, according to the KNBC report. All three occupants of the car were wearing their seatbelts, officials said.
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