By Randy E. Appleton, Attorney

When a railroad injury/accident involves release of toxic or hazardous fumes/smoke, a permanent lung/breathing disease or chemical inhalation injury may result. The cause may be a crash, derailment or even a defect or malfunction on an engine, affecting the engineer or conductor, or even a by-stander.  The Locomotive Inspection Act requires that railroads keep engines in good working order and most defects are violations of the federal regulations.  My colleague Richard N. Shapiro wrote an interesting article fully discussing engine explosions and the release of toxic fumes and smoke, as well as the locomotive inspection act requirements that apply to railroad activities.

By Randy Appleton, Railroad Accident/FELA Attorney 

Shocking statistics were recently reported by the Federal Railroad Administration regarding railroad-related accidents and injuries. It is estimated that cars and trains collide every 12 minutes with a total of 9,570 train incidents/accidents in 2009.

Here are some other disturbing statistics:

• Of the 9,570 train wrecks, 649 people were killed and 6,686 people were injured

• Nearly 96 percent of train accident deaths were caused by highway-rail incidents and trespassing

• Vehicle-rail accidents involved a wreck between train with a car, truck, van, or SUV. Out of the 222 incidents reported, 193 involved a loss of life.

Our firm has experience handling these types of train accidents. For example, we represented a father and his two children in Prince William County, Virginia (VA) who were seriously injured when the car they were in was hit by a Norfolk Southern train. One of the two young children suffered a skull fracture in the area around the eye (called an orbital skull fracture). Fortunately, we were able to reach a successful settlement and obtain compensation for the family so they could pay for medical bills, rehabilitation, and pain and suffering.

What are the causes of these terrible train accidents? Numerous factors like defective train crossings or tracks, train operator negligence, brake malfunctions, etc. can come into play both there are two major contributing factors:

1. Human factors, such as drowsy train operators, trespassing, or other dangerous behavior contributed to 34.91 percent of these incidences.

2. Track defects contributed to 34.12 percent.

The fact that track defects are almost just as common as human error/negligence is very surprising. Many of these defects could be prevented with regular maintenance, but that costs money, and many rail companies don’t renovate their track until a major train accident.

The railroad industry needs to take a long, hard look at the stats listed above and take action to decrease the unacceptably high rate of serious train accidents and rail crossing incidents.

If you’d like to learn about the applicable laws relating to railroad crossing injuries, please check out this article.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is an injury law firm with a long history of representing hundreds of railroad workers in FELA/ railroad injury cases. Check out our railroad injury case results to see for yourself. Our offices are in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) and Elizabeth City, North Carolina (NC). Our lawyers hold licenses in VA, NC, SC, WV, KY and DC and have handled railroad injury and FELA cases throughout the eastern U.S.  We would like to send you one of our FREE reports about railroad injury and FELA cases, including Do’s and Don’ts When Injured at a Railroad – The Railroad Worker’s FELA Rights and What Railroad Claim Agents Won’t Tell You (But You Must Know). We are ready to talk to you by phone right now—we provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042 before giving any statement or talking to a railroad claims agent. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube . Furthermore, our lawyers proudly moderate the Yardlimits Railroad Community Forum and donate to the Fallen Brother Fund.  PA