A fatal train accident recently claimed the life of a Riverside, California, girl. Alana Kerr was a sophomore at Norte Vista High School in Riverside and volunteered at an animal shelter. Witnesses to this Metrolink train accident told police that Kerr waited for an eastbound freight train to pass on tracks on Buchanan Street near Magnolia Avenue.
The crossing gate was still down and the lights continued to flash, but Kerr started across, not seeing a westbound Metrolink train on a parallel track. The train accident death shut down two tracks while authorities investigated the collision. It’s not clear if Metrolink was somehow at fault.
Train Accident Statistics
With more than 253,000 highway-rail gate crossings throughout the country, train crossings can be extremely dangerous. On average, at least one person a day dies at a crossing in the United States. Since 2000, more than twice as many people have been killed at train crossings than have died in commercial plane crashes.
Railroads have a legal obligation to provide warnings to the general public when their trains approach a crossing. By federal law, all trains must be equipped with (and have on) headlights of a specified brightness and horns that produce a warning sound. Also, state laws often specify that a horn must be sounded when approaching a crossing.
When to Call a Train Accident Lawyer Los Angeles
The Law Office of Arash Khorsandi handles cases involving wrongful deaths, crashes with other trains, derailment, accidents with passenger vehicles, unmarked railway crossings, improperly maintained tracks and equipment as well as driver inexperience, negligence or fatigue.
Regardless of the cause or type of train accident, our train accident attorneys will help you get compensation for your injuries. Call 1-877-702-7274 to speak to our Riverside, California train accident lawyers.
