Shortly after 7 am on Monday, June 20, 2011, an Amtrak train traveling through Cheraw, South Carolina (SC), crashed into a trash-collection truck. The two city employees in the pickup truck outfitted with a boom and bin lost their lives in the collision.
This video from WMBF-TV in Myrtle Beach, SC, notes that the grade crossing where the deadly railroad accident occurred had no warning lights or gates to keep cars and trucks off the tracks while a train approached and passed:
My colleagues and I have handled hundreds of railroad injury cases for both rail employees and drivers injured in accidents involving vehicles and trains. We have also written frequently about the need to improve safety at intersections where roads, highways and private driveways cross train tracks. Each time I learn of a tragedy like Monday’s in South Carolina, I am reminded of how important it is to outfit all grade crossing with proven safety devices such as warning lights and gates that operate automatically when a train comes near.
EJL