2 Amtrak accidents in 1 day kill 1, injure 7 in La

[DET63]

SLIDELL, La. — Authorities say accidents involving Amtrak trains 10½ hours apart on opposite ends of south Louisiana have killed one and injured seven.
A sheriff's office says 36-year-old Cristal S. LaPoint was killed and a 19-year-old man injured by an Amtrak train while they were walking along the tracks about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Vinton.

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[AlanB]

Vinton would mean that the other accident occured with the Sunset Limited.

 

[GlobalistPotato]

http://www.nola.com/traffic/index.ssf/2011/04/woman_killed_in_jefferson_pari.html

One of them were on the City of New Orleans.

Seriously? 3 accidents in Louisiana within 24 hours, and two within the New Orleans metro area?

I say there's some cursed voodoo magic at work!

The Crescent is the one that derailed.

But seriously, 3 grade crossing accidents in 24 hours, all involving Amtrak?

This should promote the State of Louisiana to kick off a grade crossing safety program. Big one.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Lots of Luck with Gov. Booby and the Clowns in the Louisiana Lege playing Anti-Washington Politics! My State of Texas leads the World in Grade Crossing Accidents/Deaths But Our Esteemed Leader for Life, Gov. Goodhair, is making a Career Out of Running Against the Evil Feds in Sodom and Gomarrah on the Potomic, Hence Zero Money for Worthwhile Projects like this!

 

[had8ley]

Louisiana has always been in the top five states, nation wide, for RR crossing accidents. The RR's have undertaken a "Close the Crossing" program where they actually pay towns to close crossings. They have even taken to cutting vegetation back 300 yards from every crossing. No telling how many lives have been saved by these gestures but Louisiana still can't fall back in crossing accident standings. Just take a two lane highway such as I live on. At 2 pm Friday the pick ups are passing each other at 99 mph with the drivers sucking on a cold one in one hand, texting with the other and driving with their knees !!! We don't have the best educated population in the land and I honestly don't have an answer to the thousands of un-gated crossings with people crossing without thinking. It's almost like committing suicide without planning it. And Louisianians wonder why they have the highest insurance rates in the nation... :help:

 

[afigg]

Seriously? 3 accidents in Louisiana within 24 hours, and two within the New Orleans metro area?

I say there's some cursed voodoo magic at work!

The Crescent is the one that derailed.

But seriously, 3 grade crossing accidents in 24 hours, all involving Amtrak?

This should promote the State of Louisiana to kick off a grade crossing safety program. Big one.

The odds of this happening are ridiculous. There are only 3 Amtrak trains serving LA - 2 of them daily and one three days a week. That's it. We are not talking multiple daily frequency corridor services here. And each of them - the Crescent, the Sunset Limited, the CONO - get into a serious accident in a span of 24 hours? In the SAME state? All of the accidents avoidable if people just stopped and looked? Unbelievable.

A large part of the problem, I suspect, is that because these are the only passenger trains in LA, that people get used to only seeing slower moving freight trains. They either think they can beat the train on the crossing or trains come through there so infrequently that they walk on the tracks or just drive across the tracks without looking. Amtrak certainly seems to have a disproportionate share of grade crossing accidents compared to the freight train companies. Not much Amtrak can do about it except to encourage states and the track owners to either put up better crossing gates or separate the grade crossings with bridges or elevated tracks.

 

[had8ley]

Seriously? 3 accidents in Louisiana within 24 hours, and two within the New Orleans metro area?

I say there's some cursed voodoo magic at work!

The Crescent is the one that derailed.

But seriously, 3 grade crossing accidents in 24 hours, all involving Amtrak?

This should promote the State of Louisiana to kick off a grade crossing safety program. Big one.

The odds of this happening are ridiculous.

Hold the phone for a minute. With crossings well into the thousands in the state of Louisiana (I think Texas and Jim have the most), and the vast majority ungated and unlit you could theoretically have the same train hit vehicles at two or three crossings all in the same day!It is driver awareness that is the problem. I used to show a film with a 737 coming in for a landing when we did Operation Lifesaver presentations. I would ask each person how long it would be before the plane touched down. Every single person, and I'm talking hundreds over the years, guessed that the plane would land way later than it did. Case in point~ you cannot gauge the speed of an oncoming train to your point accurately, and yes, it takes slower freights a longer time to reach the crossing so a 79 mph Amtrak is more liable to be involved.

 

[busboy]

I consider it a cleansing of the gene pool when idiots walk on tracks and get hit. Same goes for people who think they can beat the train in their cars.

 

[RobertF]

Lots of Luck with Gov. Booby and the Clowns in the Louisiana Lege playing Anti-Washington Politics! My State of Texas leads the World in Grade Crossing Accidents/Deaths But Our Esteemed Leader for Life, Gov. Goodhair, is making a Career Out of Running Against the Evil Feds in Sodom and Gomarrah on the Potomic, Hence Zero Money for Worthwhile Projects like this!

Please.... give me a break. If an idiot can't STOP/LOOK and LISTEN for a TRAIN then they deserve what they get. If they are walking on the tracks with IPods or whatever and not paying attention then they deserve what they get. Get the government out of the nanny business and my business please.