Chicago Car Accident Lawyer Blog

An Amtrak train headed from Chicago to Emeryville, CA recently collided with a tractor trailer in Nevada causing the death of six people and injuring several others. According to the Chicago Tribune, the truck driver who was killed in the accident had several violations and driving citations in the last few years.

Chicago personal injury lawyers are baffled how the driver even got hired considering the number of federal regulations placed on trucking companies to hire responsible, safe drivers. It is alleged that driver distraction caused the accident which is a common factor in many Illinois trucking accidents.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating all aspects of the accident, including John Davis Trucking Company, the truck driver's health and driving records, the cell phone that is believed to be the driver's, the engine data recorder from the train, and the railroad crossing's mechanical equipment. They have ruled out any malfunctions causing the safety measures to fail at the crossing. The lights, signs and pavement markings, cantilevers and crossing gates were all working to code at the time of the accident.

The highway speed limit in the area of the crossing is 70 mph. The Amtrak train set off the crossing signal approximately 25 seconds prior to the train arriving at the intersection which is visible from roughly a half mile away. Witnesses claim the truck driver was going full speed ahead and didn't attempt to stop at the crossing gates.

John Davis Trucking Company has been cited for 19 previous violations, along with a fatal single-vehicle crash in May. The deceased truck driver in this accident has a laundry list of traffic violations including speeding in a commercial vehicle in July 2008, not wearing a seat belt in August 2008, speeding and driving with a cell phone in two separate incidents in September 2008, speeding in May 2009 and speeding in September 2009.

Last year, the federal government ordered Illinois to develop a plan to reduce the number of railroad crossing accidents according to an article in the Chicago Tribune. The Federal Railroad Administration reported 588 crossing accidents (98 fatalities) in Illinois since 2006 involving vehicles and or pedestrians and trains.

Texas is the only other state that has more reported rail-crossing accidents during this period. The ruling went into effect last August in which the state has one year to come up with a plan to reduce accidents and five years to put the plan in motion or risk losing federal funding. Four crossings in Chicago are deemed deadly, with multiple accidents occurring at each location since 2005. Nationwide, there have been over 7,000 railroad crossing accidents from 2007-2009 which resulted in almost 900 fatalities.

Motorists are reminded to obey all crossing signals and use extra caution when approaching a railroad that intersects with the roadway being traveled. Sitting at a crossing and waiting for a locomotive to pass is a much safer approach than trying to race the train to crossing area in order to avoid waiting the time it takes to pass.