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Posts Tagged ‘Train Accident’

Train Accident Lawyers: Puyallup Pedestrian Dies in Early Morning Sounder Train Accident

pedestrian accidents, Puyallup, Train Accident, train accident attorney, train accident lawyer, Wrongful Death, wrongful death lawyer

August 17th, 2010: Law Blogger

sounder commuter trainOut of the thirteen pedestrians that have now been run over by trains this year in Washington, four of them have been in Puyallup. This certainly has nothing to do with the citizens of Puyallup being more prone to getting run over by trains. Sure, a few of the 13 have been suicides, but the Puyallup statistic may imply that there is either a problem with security or speed limits in populated areas. Regardless, a man is dead and, as always, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) is blaming the victim.

The early-morning Sounder commuter train was heading south from Seattle to Tacoma around 6:50 am this morning. According to Sound Transit spokesman, that’s when what is described as a man in 20’s was hit.

Lt. Dave McDonald of the Puyallup Police said that the Sounder train likely struck the man without realizing it and the body was found on the tracks about 7:30 am. He said there were no crossings where the man was struck and he was trespassing.

Sound Transit canceled one train heading from Seattle to Tacoma, but did run one train from Puyallup to Seattle. Others trying to catch a train in Tacoma for Seattle were put on buses.

A BNSF spokesperson said that most of this year’s deaths were accidents and some were suicides. All but one were trespassing, he said

Typically, 16 to 18 pedestrians and 2 drivers die on the tracks each year in the state.

He said that modern technology has increased the risks. Trains are quieter and people more distracted by mobile devices. The public should be aware that any train can move in any direction at any time, he said.

“Don’t take shortcuts,” he said. “Use the designated public crossing.”

That’s good advice. A train can be moving through a residential area at far higher speed than cars and they can creep up on an individual at a moment’s notice. Generally the Sounder travels at around 80 mph through the area where the man was hit. Please be careful crossing the tracks.

Our condolences go out to his family.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed in a train accident you will need competent and proven legal council to mediate between you and the railroad companies’ legal team. Call the wrongful death lawyers at Phillips Webster for a consultation into your legal options.

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Posted in Train Accident, Wrongful Death, pedestrian accident

Young Woman Killed in Train Accident, Man Suffers Personal Injuries In Tacoma

personal injury lawyers, Tacoma, Train Accident, train accident attorney, train accident lawyer, Wrongful Death

August 9th, 2010: Law Blogger

Amtrak in Titlow After AccidentTrains have become part of the American culture and through the media have been depicted as both romantic and gritty. That’s the draw when people see a set a train tracks. The background of steel and industry intermeshed with the beauty of nature is too much to pass up. Perhaps that’s what two young pedestrians were trying to capture as they took photos on the train tracks this weekend in Tacoma.

Police say the train accident occurred near Titlow Park, located at 8425 6th Avenue, at about 6:30 pm on Sunday. The train tracks cut through a popular walking park located on the water in downtown Tacoma. There are crossing areas and unfenced pathways that follow the tracks.

Witnesses told authorities that the two were taking photos when the train came upon them suddenly. Officials say the train was en route from Seattle to Eugene, Oregon and was traveling about 35 mph at the time of the accident.

The train stopped the moment the accident happened as police and medical crews rushed to the scene. Witnesses on the train said that the impact had thrown the 18 year-old woman far to the side of the tracks and had propelled the 18 year-old man as far as 8 feet off shore into the water.

Both were alive at the scene and were quickly transported to a hospital where the woman died either upon arrival or quickly after.

The hospital did not release the condition of the young man.

There were 271 people onboard the train at the time of the accident. No one onboard was injured.

The names of the victims have not been revealed pending notification of the families.

Our condolences go out to friends and family for their loss and we wish a swift and full recovery for the young man.

By our calculation, this is the 12th death in a train accident in the state of Washington since the beginning of the year. Many of these deaths are amongst young people. Only last week a train killed another teenager as he stood in the station. Perhaps this may be a sign that some railroad policies and pedestrian crossings need to be revisited.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed in a train accident you will need competent and proven legal council to mediate between you and the railroad companies’ legal team. Call the wrongful death lawyers at Phillips Webster for a consultation into your legal options.

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Posted in Train Accident, Wrongful Death

Sound Transit Link Light Rail Collides With Truck, Drags It Several Yards

Train Accident, train accident attorney, train accident lawyer, Washington Truck Accident Attorneys

August 3rd, 2010: Law Blogger

Transit train crushes truckRailroad tracks from the old street car system in Seattle, before it was replaced with the Metro Bus system, still criss-cross city roads going nowhere and being of no use other than lowering car tire pressure and injuring bicyclists. The Sound Transit Link Light Rail is so new that drivers in Seattle are still having trouble fathoming rails that actually have trains on them. Of course, then there is the man that drove on the tracks the afternoon. We could make fun of him…but he does it so well himself.

Reid Saario was driving his pickup truck and decided to take a left on Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and South Dawson Street shortly before 12 pm. There are two things wrong with that move. One, that is an illegal left turn, and two, that’s about the time that the Light Rail train heading toward downtown was scheduled to arrive.

Unfortunately for Saario, the train was on time.

“Like an idiot I was trying to make a left-hand turn there, looked up and realized I couldn’t make a left hand turn,” Saario said

He said he was sitting on the track when the northbound train hit him from behind.

“It just whacked me. It drug me for about 30 seconds,” Saario said, “I thought I was going to get crushed.”

The aftermath showed the truck pinned against the train and windows shattered on the rail cars.

“Heard a big thud and then looked up, and saw a big Toyota Tundra coming down the side,” said train passenger Linda Harman, “I jumped up and ran to the other side of the train just as one of the windows caved in.”

Several guys from a nearby auto repair shop helped him out of the mangled pickup, Saario said.

Saario said he suffered a stiff neck. There were no serious personal injuries reported by rail passengers. The train was full of passengers coming from the airport to downtown Seattle.

Saario said that he’s grateful to be alive and well enough to talk about what happened.

Sound Transit doesn’t have a damage estimate on the two rail cars that were involved in the collision, each one costs about $4 million.

Now it’s the insurance adjustor that needs to sift through this mess. There may need to also be an assessment of the labeling of the intersection so that another person doesn’t get confused by the intersection. The next driver may not be so lucky.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed by a transit rail accident call Phillips Webster for a consultation on you legal rights.

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Posted in Train Accident

Washington Train Accident Lawyers: Puyallup Teenager Killed by Train at Station

railroad accident, Train Accident, train accident attorney, train accident lawyer

August 2nd, 2010: Law Blogger

puyallup sound transit stationTrains move deceptively fast. In residential areas of populations less than 100,000 people they have a speed limit of 40 mph, which is faster than many roads in populated areas. Their size also makes them deceptive as to how fast they are traveling toward a person. And they may take up to a mile to stop depending on their speed and how curved the track is. All of these factors may have played a part into the death of a teenager in Puyallup last night in a train accident.

Marcus Musson was at the Puyallup Sound Transit Station standing in an area of the north platform that was past a yellow cautionary line just before 7 pm. His friend was also past the line. Apparently they may have been trying to yell to a group of juveniles on the south platform, Puyallup police said.

The train passing approached, but they didn’t move. It sounded its warning, but they still stayed put. It was only right before it reached them that the friend stepped back, but police say Musson did not move and was hit.

Some media reports say the boys may have been playing a game of chicken, in which the person who moves first loses the game. The premise of course does not involve either of the players dying.

The Cascade train with 219 passengers was traveling from Portland to Vancouver, British Columbia. It was held for a time for the investigation, Amtrak said.

This is the 11th death this year so far on the train tracks and 3rd in the Puyallup area, where the train tracks seem to be a regular hangout for some teens. Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) is the operator of all of the tracks in Washington State. They generally conduct the investigations along side authorities and usually cite warning sounds and speed as the main factors in assigning blame on the victims of train accidents.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed by a railroad accident call Phillips Webster for a consultation on you legal rights and to find out how you can receive the compensation you deserve.

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Posted in Train Accident, Wrongful Death, pedestrian accident

Train Accident Lawyers: 10th Pedestrian Killed This Year Crossing Railroad Tracks

Train Accident, train accident attorney, train accident lawyer, Wrongful Death

July 7th, 2010: Law Blogger

Centralia TracksWashington train tracks were once the veins that kept the state thriving and still link the massive Seattle and Tacoma ports and the orchards of central Washington with the rest of the country. They wind through mountains, south along the ocean, and speed east along flat open plains. They are also extremely dangerous and take a long time to stop which was the case this morning in Centralia.

A yet unidentified man was crossing the tracks between two pedestrian “crossovers” (which are similar to street crossings but are narrower and have a raised bed) around 5 am.

According to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF is the manager of all Washington track maintenance and operations) spokesman Gus Melonas, the crew saw the man, sounded the whistle and made an emergency stop. But the train traveling about 40 mph could not stop in time.

Reports later after the train stopped and the investigation had begun said that the body was found under a rail car about half an hour after the train accident.

The Centralia line carries more than 50 freight and Amtrak trains per day.

Police and BNSF are investigating.

Update: The Lewis County Coroner’s Office, based on information brought forward by a friend of the victim, has deemed this death a suicide. Apparently the victim had been involved in a domestic dispute and threatened suicide earlier that morning.

There have been 10 people killed on tracks this year in Washington. Nine were considered trespassing and one was a pedestrian at a crossing. With this kind of common occurrence please don’t come under the misconception that it would never happen to you. The speed limit for trains in population centers of less than 100,000 people are as high as 90 mph and can appear seemingly out of nowhere. Please always use a pedestrian crossing and be careful when crossing.

If you or a loved one is hit by a train, then some of the best advice you can receive is to find an experienced lawyer assure that you get the accident settlement you deserve. Call Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

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Posted in Train Accident, Wrongful Death

Washington Train Accident Lawyers: Woman Killed While Crossing Tracks in Puyallup

Train Accident, train accident lawyer, Wrongful Death, wrongful death lawyer

June 25th, 2010: Law Blogger

train accident lawyerTrains may be loud, but not as loud as they used to be, and they’re faster than they used to be also. In Washington State, unless the train is passing through an area with a population of 100,000 or more, then the federal government sets the speed limit. For passenger trains, the speed limit is as fast as 90 mph, 30 mph faster than a freight train. At that speed it is almost impossible for a person to truly gauge how fast the train is coming at them. At a curve on the track a train can show up at any time as a woman learned yesterday evening with fatal results.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF Railway), the contracted operator of all tracks in Washington State, reported a northbound Amtrak train struck and killed a female pedestrian around 6 pm last evening in Puyallup.

Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero says the train was traveling at 79 mph en route from Portland, Ore., to Vancouver, British Columbia, with a planned stop in Seattle.

The exact details of the accident were not immediately revealed.

The railroad accident caused  delays in the regional freight and transit lines. Two southbound Sounder commuter trains were held in Sumner, and buses were sent to carry Sounder passengers to Puyallup and Tacoma.

BNSF is holding the train involved in the accident in Puyallup for investigation. This is a common practice in a situation that seems to happen too often in the northwest corridor.

There are many wide open places that lead to great hikes and fishing spots throughout Washington State. These often cross train tracks without pedestrian signals. If you must cross these areas to get to where you are going please choose a place to cross that has an ample view in both directions of the track. Also, please never ever cross a ravine on a train trestle, if you are caught on one there is usually no way off.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed by a railroad accident call Phillips Webster for a consultation on you legal rights.

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Posted in Train Accident, Wrongful Death

Train Accident Lawyers: Teen Girl Hit by Sounder Train; Survives with Serious Injuries

personal injury, Seattle personal injury lawyer, Train Accident, train accident attorney

June 23rd, 2010: Law Blogger

Carkeek Park with open tracks and one crossing.For the second time in less that a week a pedestrian in Washington State was suddenly caught unaware on the train tracks, and the second time this year in the Seattle area. Both train accidents last weekend and in May ended in tragedy, because a person being hit by a train almost never ends with the person walking away, but last night a teenage girl bucked the odds.

The spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), the company in charge of maintenance, security, and operation of the tracks, Gus Melonas says that about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday a northbound Sound Transit Sounder commuter train hit a girl on the rail line next to Carkeek Park, just north of Seattle.

Melonas says the train was going about 8 mph after using the emergency break when it struck her.

BNSF security suspect that she was part of a group of teenagers who had been reported to have been throwing rocks at trains. Security reached three of the teenagers and said that “they seemed to be intoxicated.”

Snohomish County Fire District 1 spokeswoman Leslie Hynes said the train transported her to the Edmonds train depot where medics picked the girl up at 6 pm and drove her to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

They have said that she suffered serious personal injuries, but none of them life threatening.

Bored teenagers hanging out on or near train tracks seems to almost be a national summer past time and has been happening since the invention of the train. The major problem here is that the trains run past large parks such as Carkeek and Golden Gardens with little monitoring and only one or two places to cross to go to the shore of Puget Sound, one of the big attractions. Until this issue is resolved there will be more incidents like this.

If you or someone you know is hit by a train, then you need an experienced personal injury attorney to assure that you get the accident settlement you deserve. Call Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

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Posted in Train Accident, personal injury

Train Accident Lawyers: Pedestrian Killed by Train in Pierce County

Train Accident, train accident attorney

June 21st, 2010: Law Blogger

Thompson Trestle, Sumner, WANo matter how fast or slow a train seems to be going it takes a long time to stop and has no way of avoiding pedestrians or cars that come too close to the tracks. In Washington State, suicide by jumping in front of a train is somewhat common, but 3 pedestrians have already been killed by accident crossing the tracks this year. This morning another was added to the list.

The freight train was heading northbound when it hit and killed a man who was along the train tracks. Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the operator of the majority of freight transported through Washington, has not revealed the man’s name or what the details are yet, but Sumner police say a freight train hit a man just around 1:30 a.m. on the Thompson Trestle, just above Thompson Street.

The train stopped and blocked a major intersection near Maple Street while police conducted their investigation. Officers believe the man was in his late 30’s or early 40’s. Investigators have indicated that they will release further details as the investigation progresses, perhaps as early as later today.

Our condolences go out to the man’s friends and family.

There are strict speeds and rules trains must go through when operating in an urban or well populated area. One of these is speed. Many times at night, if a person makes the unwise decision to cross the tracks at an undesignated pedestrian crossing area, they are not able to reasonably gauge the speed of an oncoming train merely by sound or the light. If a train is moving at an increased speed it may make crossing the tracks fatally dangerous.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed in a train accident you will need competent and proven legal council to mediate between you and the railroad companies’ legal team. Call Phillips Webster for a consultation into your legal options.

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Posted in Train Accident, Wrongful Death

Wrongful Death: Train Accident in Edmonds Kills Woman

Train Accident, wrongful death lawyer

May 3rd, 2010: Law Blogger

BNSF train rolling through EdmondsA train was going northbound from Tacoma to Everett early Saturday. It was traveling about 35 mph through the near the Edmonds-Kingston ferry crossing when, according to the train crew, they saw a woman run from behind a building and in front of the train about 5:30 am.

The engineer immediately employed the emergency brake, but the train struck the woman. She died at the scene, said Gus Melonas, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (BNSF).

The woman has not yet been identified. Authorities believe a vehicle parked nearby belonged to her, Melonas said.

The incident is being investigated by police and BNSF authorities.

Edmonds Ferry Railroad Crossing Ferry traffic was shut down for a time while an investigation was conducted.

This is the second railroad accident we’ve reported on in less than a week. Last week there was a train accident involving a van which resulted in the driver being killed. Both of these train incidents involved the death of an innocent victim and may have been able to be prevented.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed in a train accident then you need an experienced lawyer to represent you in meetings with large railroad legal teams to assure that you get the settlement you deserve. Call the Seattle accident lawyers at Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

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Teen Girl Injured By Sound Transit Train

personal injury attorney, Train Accident

April 26th, 2010: Law Blogger

Ambulance after incidentA young woman in her teens was hit by a Sound Transit light rail train in South Seattle. The incident happened at Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and South Othello Street shortly after 3:30 pm on Friday, said the Seattle Police Department.

She was transported to the hospital with personal injuries, police said

A witness said that the girl was talking on her cell phone and walking in a crosswalk across the tracks when she was hit on her right side. “The train didn’t actually hit her flush because it would have done more damage. She just kind of rolled off, cuts and bruises on her eyes and legs and stuff like that. I went up to make sure she was breathing which she was,” said the witness.

The train’s operator had apparently been sounding a warning horn just before the collision, but she ignored him. After the girl was hit the driver jumped out immediately to check on her condition.

The train and bus interchanges can be busy and confusing places with crowds and large vehicles constantly coming and going. In situations like that it is very easy for a person to get into a bus accident or train accident if they are not paying adequate attention. On the other hand, pedestrians have the right of way and the train operator may not have done enough to prevent hitting the young girl.

If you or someone you know is hit by a bus or hit by a train, then you need an experienced personal injury attorney to assure that you get the accident settlement you deserve. Call Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

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Posted in Train Accident, personal injury

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