UP Freight Hits Veterans Parade Float

what the heck was the tractor trailer sitting on the tracks for, you stop before til clear to cross as a tractor trailer driver that person should of known that basic info.

HEre is the truck / float during the parade...  pg 1/12

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-201_162-10014577-2.html

Here is the truck after the accident. IT appears the cab is intact. The driver of this truck must be alive. pg 7/12

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-201_162-10014577-8.html

Here are the 4 vets that died. Pretty young I must say and needlessly deceased. pg 8/12

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-201_162-10014577-9.html

Folding chairs just connceted to the flatbed by strapping.  That in itself is dangerous, and in the State of Texas ILLEGAL!

And crossing live tracks.

Seems the whole saety culture of this event needs to be looked at!  Not just the actions of the driver of the rig!

The "CDL issue" is relevant because to transport passengers with a CDL you require a passenger endorsement. And in the Code of Federal Regulations there is a mandate for a FULL STOP before crossing railroad tracks, to ascertain if the tracks are clear. Failure to do so results in automatic revocation of the CDL for a period of at least sixty days and a retest on regulations and a new driver's test. Decades ago I failed an employers CDL test because they had me drive through an area where there was a crossing that had not been used in the last fifty years. There was even a small tree growing in the middle of the track. I slowed, but did not come to a full stop and I can remember the screams in my ear from the examiner to this day! "Don't you NEVER, EVER cross railroad tracks when working for this company before coming to an absolute full stop, and never start to cross if there is not enough space on the other side for you to drive completely across without stopping."

Seems also the parade did not have a permit.  And nobody told UP about the event.

In the "It was only a matter of time" category:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012...xas/?test=latestnews

And, yes, even veterans in this messed-up society of ours can be as litigation minded as anyone else.

Lt's see now:

1) The red lights were flashing!

2) The crossing gat armes were DOWN!

3) The truck driver drove onto the grade crossing ANYWAY! Then stopped ON THE TRACKS when he realized that the other side of the crossing was blocked by the parade!

4) The "parade" apparently had NO PERMIT, nor did the parade organizers ever NOTIFY the Union Pacific Railroad!

So the ambulance chasing attorneys pick the Union Pacific Railroad to sue??????

Can't wait until the in-cab video from the lead locomotive gets released on this one.

No real surprise on that score, I guess.  I obviously fault the ambulance-chasing legal beagles first, but those willing to get suckered in by them also share part of the blame (vet or not).

Wow.  UP might present Hot Water's list and counter-sue the attorney for defamation. 

THIS HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT HAPPENED.

Even if a permit had been obtained and even if UP knew about it, the same idiot truck driver would have STILL driven his truck into harms way because he, like most people on the road today, was not paying attention to what he was doing. He was probably staring 10-feet in front of him and only stopped because the vehicle in front of him stopped.

Yes, the lawyers will have a field day with this one, but I live in Realville. And in Realville, the cause of this accident is crystal clear.

This is such a load of bull.  God forbid the blame be placed where it belongs....it's always somebody elses fault.  Amazing...... that train would not of hit anything if the truck wasn't there.

Rich,

I am going to have to strongly disagree with that part of your wholesale statement! I am also surprised that being in the position you are in that you would make a statement like that!

I don't know how UP conducts their operations. However, I do know that here in this part of NS land, if the parade principals had notified the NS of a parade in their town, the train traffic would have been stopped at a safe distance and a Trainmaster would have been on site to see that everyone and everything was safely in the clear before trains moved through town again. I've been on that end of the delay report several times.

HEres a report of the Driver of the truck. HE also is reported as being a veteran.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012...ate/?intcmp=obinsite

I can understand having some personal compassion for the driver, because he apparently made a very serious blunder - something so elementary that no professional driver should ever do - and it was the root cause of this tragic event.  He has to bear that on his conscience for the rest of his life.  None of us would want to be him.

It should not be a surprise, though, to anyone who posts here that family members of some of the deceased have retained an aggressive plaintiff lawyer to sue - primarily - the railroad.  This attorney famously took a railroad lawsuit to a plaintiff-friendly court hundreds of miles from the location of a crossing accident and collected several million dollars for plaintiffs who were primarily at fault for their train/auto accident several years ago.  There was a convenient cultural aspect at the location of the court.  He should have no trouble finding a veteran-friendly jury for this trial, without having to leave the Midland-Odessa area.

The local newspaper reported that the truck company was also being sued.  However I did not notice the parade organizers being listed as named defendants, nor the driver.

Fortunately, the railroad has windshield video and a multi-event recorder, but the plaintiff attorney still has many advantages.  The attorney usually request massive amounts od evidence from the railroad, and one small omission will surely bring accusations of spoilage or tampering with evidence on the railroad's part.

UP was not stopped on the tracks in their truck.  I drove a fire truck for years and never stopped on tracks that were active.  If we had to for some reason the RR was notified immediately.  I guess it isn't the drivers fault.   Up should go after the driver, I am sure they will as they should.

The driver of the truck should not have driven the truck out of the staging area, becaue of the first sentance above.  That was mistake one.  the second was at the RR crossing.

If the lawsuit proceeds, can the Management team at Union Pacific order the removal of that grade crossing and similar grade crossings, then tell the community to build overpasses at their own expense.

Andrew

ER, did the truck driver have CDL with passenger endorsement?  If not, that was an error.  If he did, then mistake one is the one above.

I haven't heard any mention of this being a NIMBY quiet zone, which was a side note in early reports... Here's the NTSB timeline so far, from the Trains.com news wire.  Also, there's proof of a properly functioning grade crossing from the dash cam video from the police car directly behind the trailer.

Shocking... Lawsuit doesn't have a leg to stand on, they're just looking for an out-of court settlement.  If I was UP, I'd stand up and pay whatever for court fees, just on premise... and then make a donation to a veterans fund.

Just my opinion...

Thanks,

Mario.

UP should stick damage to the locos, train, and delay of trains to the truck driver.  The only morality we have in this country today is that of the pocketbook!

If a  300 ton freight  train is bearing down on a railroad crossing at 60mph and the gate lights are flashing YOU get out of the way its common sense,if you try to rush it or become inpatient 

things can and will get ugly,i highly doubt a class one railroad will go out of there way to stop a freight and adjust there schedule so a parade can go through the crossing,time is money.

UP will issue orders for speed reduction when they know about such events. 

Greg

Kevin,

I guess you didn't take the time to read my post above, did you?

I read it,Union pacific may operate differently.

The magic words here are "when they know about such events." 

If the community can't be bothered with contacting the railroad, then it's shame on them.  I'm sure they have the phone number.  If the railroad blocks a crossing for 10 minutes with a stopped train, they'd be on the phone in a flash...

Rusty

KevinB,

How do you know that Union Pacific doesn't do the same thing, IF THEY ARE NOTIFIED IN ADVANCE???

The Burlington, Burlington Northern, and now the BNSF have all their trains reduce speed through downtown LaGrange for the annual "Pet Parade", and have been doing so for more than 50 years! But then, the Pet Parade Committee takes great pains to notify the railroad & METRA, as well as ALL the surrounding communities WELL in advance of the "big event".

I never said i did,i said i highly doubt they do,a few posters now say they will indeed slow down or stop so thats cleared up,it  then still boils down to them not notifying anyone and the train has the right of way until they do.

Then you didn't read Greg's either.