By Rick Shapiro, Railroad Crossing Accident Victims’ Attorney

Even as the New Jersey Safety at Railroad Crossings Leadership Oversight Committee was holding its first-ever meeting on November 9, 2011, a pedestrian in Hamilton, NJ, became the 20th person in the Garden State to lose his life this year by being struck by a passenger train at a grade crossing. During 2010, New Jersey Transit, Amtrak and a few freight trains struck and killed 28 people in the state. In nearly every case, the pedestrian had intentionally or accidentally walked in the path of the train, often by ignoring lowered crossing gates or trespassing on railroad trestles.

Wasting no time, committee members representing state and federal agencies such as the New Jersey State Police, NJ Department of Education, National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and Federal Railroad Administration issued a preliminary plan to reverse the trend toward growing numbers of pedestrians dying while crossing tracks. The three-pronged approach calls for educating students of all ages about grade crossing safety, stepping up enforcement of anti-trespassing laws and making it more difficult for people to get onto tracks and rail beds by repairing and erecting fences and crossing gates.

Most importantly, the committee is reaching out to rail workers such as engineers, trackmen and rail yard employees to identify patterns in trespassing activities, increase reporting of trespassing incidents and develop strategies for preventing trespassing. Involving rail employees in the effort to lower pedestrian fatalities is essential both because railroaders have invaluable knowledge on the subject and because being involved in a crossing accident in which a pedestrian dies often has a shattering effect on the train’s crew.

This report on a grade crossing accident in which a car’s driver was killed describes the terrible mental toll fatal crashes take on locomotive engineers and other train crew members:

As a railroad accident injury and wrongful death attorney practicing in Virginia (VA), I work at a law firm whose clients have included both railroad employees and members of the public who have been involved in grade crossing accidents. I know firsthand that only bad things happen when trains collide with vehicles or pedestrians, and I hope the effort to prevent such tragedies in New Jersey succeeds.

Trains cannot stop on a dime, or even on a 70-story bank headquarters building. Approaching a crossing, bridge or stretch of track with a pedestrian in the way leaves rank-and-file conductors and engineers no real option for avoiding the crash that will likely kill the person on foot.  Railroads and track owners need to make sure gates, lights and warning signs are adequate and working properly. At the same time, transportation crews and those involved in train operations have a vital role to play in making crossings safer for themselves, for drivers and for pedestrians by sharing their knowledge about crossing hazards and how to mitigate them.

EJL

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton is an injury law firm whose attorneys have long histories of representing railroad workers in FELA and other railroad injury cases. Attorneys will our firm have served as chairmen of the Railroad section of the American Association for Justice. One of our attorneys wrote a major attorney’s encyclopedia section on railroad safety litigation. Check out our railroad injury case results to see for yourself. Our offices are in Virginia Beach and Hampton, Virginia (VA), and Elizabeth City, North Carolina (NC). Our lawyers also hold licenses to practice in South Carolina (SC), West Virginia (WV), Kentucky (KY), Florida (FL) and Washington, DC, and have handled hundreds of railroad injury and FELA cases throughout the eastern United States. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis were included in the 2011 issue of Best Lawyers in America. They, along with fellow attorney John M. Cooper, were also named 2011 Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law, an honor which fewer than 5 percent of outstanding lawyers receive. We would like to send you one of our FREE reports about railroad injury and FELA cases, such as Dos and Don’ts When Injured at a Railroad — Yours FELA Rights and What Railroad Claim Agents Won’t Tell You (But You Must Know). We provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at (800) 752-0042 before giving any statement or talking to a railroad claims agent. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Further, our lawyers proudly moderate the Yardlimits Railroad Community Forum and donate to the Fallen Brother Fund.