Two tractor-trailers collided with separate trains outside the central California (CA) town of Hanford on the afternoon of Oct. 1, 2012. The more serious of the crashes sent 42 Amtrak employees and passengers to hospitals with non-life-threatening personal injuries, included bruises and broken bones. The truck driver reportedly caused that accident by failing to stop at a railroad crossing while the train was moving through.
The Amtrak train derailed, and the man driving the semi also suffered injuries.
After the second wreck, the freight train hit by the tractor-trailer stayed on the tracks and only the trucker was reported to have been injured. It is unclear at this time whether either of the truckers will be charged for causing the accidents.
The Virginia Train Accident Lawyers’ Perspective
Since June 2011, it is impossible to hear about a tractor-trailer crashing into a train without thinking about the fatal Amtrak accident outside of Reno, Nevada (NV). While the most recent wreck did not result in any deaths, the identical circumstance of a truck driver simply failing to stop for a train at a crossing makes drawing parallels inevitable.
Preliminary investigation findings made public by the National Transportation Safety Board on Sept. 21, 2012, indicate that faulty brakes on the truck may have been the ultimate cause of the Reno crash. It could take a year or more to determine if such mechanical failures contributed to the collisions in Californiaor if truck drivers just did not see the trains and stop signals or ignored them.
Regardless, we wish speedy recoveries to all the people hurt in the accidents.
Potentially Helpful Info
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