Downeaster collission

[Devil's Advocate]

In a nutshell, over the last two years, Dallas North Tollway suffered a lot of wrong-way drunk drivers causing axys, and some fatalities.

Is "axy" some sort of overly cutesy euphemism like "boo-boo?"

After needs analysis and study, decision reached today to lower warning signs, and add LED signs. Will it work? We shall see. Point being an increase in axys prompted brainstorming, analysis, and Yankee ingenuity.

I'd rather have the kind of ingenuity that removes bad drivers from the roads and provides them with a public transportation network able to reach all the places they'd like to go at the hours they want to be there.

 

[Grandpa D]

Yankee ingenuity.

In Dallas??? :blink:

 

[Oldsmoboi]

Same as the lights on a drawbridge.

There's an idea. Put "drawbridges" on either side of the tracks. When the train comes, it triggers the "drawbridge" to go up. Anyone who wants to try to beat the train will just fly over the train. :giggle:

Even better:

I saw these outside the parking garage of the Federal Court here in Pittsburgh and immediately thought of this thread. The ones there have "STOP" in the crosshatch area.

 

[afigg]

Saw this news report update about the official police report on the Downeaster truck collision in July. Amtrak is suing the truck company for $3 million and I doubt it will go to court if the police report findings hold up to examination by the truck operator insurance company lawyers.

Portland Press Herald report:

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Police-Trucker-distracted-speeding-before-train-collision.html

"NORTH BERWICK — A New Hampshire trucker hauling a load of trash was distracted and speeding before his tractor-trailer skidded more than 200 feet into the path of an Amtrak train, causing a fiery collision that killed him and injured several others in July, investigators concluded.

Peter Barnum, 35, of Farmington, N.H., took a five-minute phone call from his employer just before the collision and his truck was traveling 20 mph faster than the posted speed limit when he hit the brakes, according to a report by the North Berwick Police Department. A motorist following Barnum reported that the truck had been weaving on the road.

Barnum was distracted, possibly by his cellphone, and "didn't see the crossing until it was too late," Police Chief Stephen Peasley said today.

Investigators cannot say with absolute certainty whether Barnum was on the phone at the moment of impact on July 11. A conversation between Barnum and his boss ended at about the same time as the accident, though the boss insisted that the call ended before the collision, Peasley said."

It goes on and gets worse for the truck operator and company:

...

"A driver who was following the truck, Greg Daigneault of North Berwick, told investigators that Barnum was driving erratically and didn't slow down when the speed limit dropped."

"Cellphone records indicate there were 14 incoming and outgoing calls between 7:37 a.m. and the time of the crash. The report indicates the last call came from his employer at 11 a.m. and ended at 11:05 a.m., the same time police received the first 911 calls, the report said."

If the driver was talking to his employer up to just before the accident, the truck company can not claim that he was breaking rules - if the company has any - about not using the cell phone while driving.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Cellphone records indicate there were 14 incoming and outgoing calls between 7:37 a.m. and the time of the crash. The report indicates the last call came from his employer at 11 a.m. and ended at 11:05 a.m., the same time police received the first 911 calls, the report said. Stephen Foye of Triumvirate Environmental told police he couldn't remember what the two discussed in that last call but said it ended before the crash, according to the report.

Considering that it can take minute or two to get an emergency call dialed and routed to the police I'd say this is pretty open and shut. Never mind the "can't recall" deflections of the employer. I seriously doubt Amtrak will see anything close to the three million they're asking for however.

 

[GAT]

The caller may have thought the call ended before the crash, but if the driver had not terminated the call on his phone, the line may have still been open when he hit the train, hence the timing being roughly the same as when the 911 call was placed. I agree the employer probably doesn't have a leg to stand on if he called his driver in contravention of the rules.

By the way, Texas Sunset....Do we now have to call you Rick Perry? You look awfully similar, and I won't even start with the irony of the word Sunset in relation to his (your) candidacy. :giggle:

 

[user 1215]

Seriously - anyone think that the Company Employee will admit to "...and we were talking on the phone when I heard the driver scream then silence..."?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Seriously - anyone think that the Company Employee will admit to "...and we were talking on the phone when I heard the driver scream then silence..."?

If he was an honest man, absolutely. But these days honest men appear to be in short supply while liars, cheats, and crooks seem to be everywhere.