Washington Injury Attorney Blog

The Seattle Times reports that a man who was in his 20s was hit and killed by the Sounder train south of Puyallup on Tuesday morning.

The report said the man's body was found on the tracks around 7:30am and that it was possible that no one on board the train were aware of the pedestrian accident.

The Sounder was traveling from Seattle to Tacoma and the pedestrian accident occurred near 18th Street Northwest and West Stewart Avenue.

Thirteen pedestrian have been killed in train accidents this year in Washington state.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in pedestrian accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

King5.com of Seattle reports that a man was killed by a freight train in Centralia early this morning. The man was crossing the tracks when he was hit by the train.

This is the 10th fatality in Washington state this year involving people who have been hit by trains. Of the 10 deaths, 9 of the people were considered to be trespassers and one was at a pedestrian crossing.

Pedestrians are often ignorant of the dangers that railroad tracks pose. It is often devastating to train engineers to be involved in a collision in which a pedestrian is killed. Pedestrians often don't realize that trains are traveling at speeds of up to 80 mph and that they can not stop for a pedestrian.

Pedestrian Safety Tips

• Railroad tracks and trestles are private property and people should not trespass.
• Only cross in designated public crossing.
• Be aware that trains overhang the tracks by at least 3 feet on either side of the track. Also, loose straps or other equipment may overhang further. STAND BACK.
• Do not cross the tracks after one train passes because there is often another train approaching in the opposite direction.
• Do not use train trestles to fish, hunt or bungee jump.
• Do not attempt to hop on and ride train equipment at any time.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent motor vehicle accident victims and their families.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Police are investigating a railroad accident in which a man, who was sitting on the railroad tracks in Sumner, was hit and killed by a northbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train around 12:40am.

Train engineers saw the man sitting on the tracks but were unable to stop the train in time.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in train accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Source:
The Seattle Times
Man killed on RR tracks on Sumner
Posted June 21, 2010

A woman was hit and killed by a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp train on Saturday morning around 5:30am.

From a report in The Seattle Times, it seems that the woman may have committed suicide because the train crew saw the woman run from behind a building and into the path of the oncoming train. The train's engineer tried to stop but the train hit and killed the woman.

The woman has not yet been identified. Police, however, believe they have found the woman's vehicle nearby.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents due the negligence of another.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Two young men from Washington state were killed and a young man and woman were injured when the Chevy Aveo they were riding in apparently went around a railroad crossing arm and were involved in a train vs. car accident in Utah.

According to a report in The Seattle Times, Alex Amundson, 21, of Fariview, and Donald Callison, 18, of Monroe were both killed in the motor vehicle accident. Amundson was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident. The train was estimated to be traveling at 45 mph and 55mph when it hit the Aveo.

Injured in the accident were an 18-year-old female from Salt Lake County and a 19-year-old male from Vernal. Their condition is unknown.

All four of the young people were employees of KFC and were in the Salt Lake area for a business seminar.

No one on the train was injured in the accident.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Times reports that a 36-year-old Pierce County resident was hit and killed by an Amtrak Train around 2 am this morning.

According to the report, the woman had been missing and was described as suicidal. The report said that the incident did not occur at a railroad crossing and that there were no passengers on the train at the time.

The train was en route to Seattle from Portland at the time of the incident.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in train accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Safe Kids.org launched "Safe Crossing Week" for the week of November 1 through November 7 to teach children about how to be safe around railroad crossings. This year's program is called "Teaching Safety for Life."

Safe Kids "Top Railroad Safety Rules" for parents to teach their children include:

• Railroad tracks are dangerous, don't play around them. Only cross tracks at marked crossings and always look both ways.
  
• Obey railroad signs and signals, paying attention to warning bells or train whistles.
  
• Never cross a train track when a train is approaching even if it seems very far away.
  
• Walk bicycles across tracks.
  
• Stand at least 10 giant steps away from tracks.

According to Safe Kids, around 744 people were killed and 1,372 were injured in train accidents last year in the United States. Twenty-two of the victims that were killed and 120 of those injured were children, 14 years of age and under.

For more information about Railroad Safety, see the Safe Kids web-site.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Last week, a Northwest Airlines commercial flight overview its destination by 150 miles. Fortunately, this was not a terrorist incident, the pilots were not asleep nor fighting. However, they were very distracted -- they were using a laptop computer -- and did not notice that it was time to land the plane.

According to The Seattle Times, the pilots Richard Cole of Salem, Oregon and Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Washington will lose their pilot's licenses because of the incident .

Recently in Washington DC, the National Transportation Safety Board held a summit on distracted driving which addressed the dangers of text-messaging and using other electronic devices while driving. The summit revealed data that said almost 6,000 people were killed and about 500,000 injured in motor vehicle accidents linked to driver distraction.

Data tells us that distracted driving kills. Hopefully, we will not have any more pilots so distracted that they don't realize where they are or that people are talking to them over radios.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed. If you believe your auto accident was caused by someone using a cell phone, you might want to read our article, "What if my accident was caused by someone using a cell phone?"

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The National Transportation Safety Board has made recommendations to the Federal Aviation Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard and other governmental agencies regarding operator fatigue and a sleep disorder called sleep apnea. The NTSB presented "Fatigue and Sleep Disorders in Transportation Accidents" at the Washington D.C. Sleep Society and their data reveals that fatigue and sleep apnea has been a factor in thousands of transportation accidents since 1967 including railroad, marine, intermodal, highway, and aviation.

The NTSB recommends that pilots and other operators or motor vehicles be evaluated for obstructive sleep apnea if they have other risk factors for that disorder.

Sleep apnea is a disorder in which a person has pauses in their breathing during a sleep cycle. Each episode is termed apnea, and it means "failure to breath." When people have the condition, their breathing is obstructed during the night which affects their body, causing daytime sleepiness and fatigue.

THE NTSB gave examples of when sleep apnea was a factor in a bus accident, a train accident, a cruise ship accident and a case when two pilots fell asleep during a flight.

See the Seattle Times for a full report by the Associated Press on the condition.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Times reports that a man was hit and killed by an Amtrak train while walking on a railroad trestle over the Lewis River south of Woodland on Friday afternoon. This is the ninth pedestrian accident involving a train in Washington so far this year.

The train was traveling from Seattle to Vancouver on the BNSF Railway.

Apparently the man and a companion were on the trestle looking for a place to swim.

It is tragic that so many pedestrians have lost their lives this year. Use the following common sense safety tips when walking near train tracks:

• Never walk down a train track. Not only is it illegal but it is dangerous. Trains always have the right-of-way.
  
• Only cross railway tracks at designated crossing and never go around or over lower crossing gates.
  
• Always expect a train to be arriving. Even if a track has weeds or looks rusty, you must assume that it is in use.
  
• You won't always hear an approaching train. Modern trains are quieter than you might think. In some areas, trains will not blow warning horns, especially near residential areas.
  
• Approaching trains are moving faster and are closer than you think.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in pedestrian accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Times reports that a woman, who was in her early 20s, was hit and killed by a Union Pacific freight train traveling on Burlington Northern tracks near the Tacoma late Friday evening.

The Portland-bound freight train was near the Black River Station at the time of the pedestrian accident.

According to the report, this is the fifth pedestrian who has been killed on Burlington Northern property in 2009. In 2008, 16 people were killed.

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This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber law Group. We represent pedestrian accident victims and their families.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or e-mail attorney@hgfarber.com. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Times reports that several people who were injured when an Amtrak train derailed near Stevenson, Washington in 2005 have reached a financial settlement with Amtrak.

Emma Madrid Diaz (age 59 of Kennewick), Nancy C . Zamudi (age 22 of Pasco), Maria Madrid (age 40 of Richland) and Carlos Madrid (age 23 of Richland) and four unnamed minors reached a settlement in mediated negotiations according to the report.

These eight were among the 26 people injured when a westbound Amtrak train derailed on April 3, 2005 in the Columbia River gorge, east of Portland.

According to an Amtrak attorney, the total of all settlements in the accident are under $1 million dollars.

One lawsuit is still pending, that of Christopher Blankenship, age 36.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in accidents due to the negligence of another person including people who were hurt in car accidents, train accidents and construction accidents.

The Farber Law Group is a Washington-based personal injury law firm with offices in Seattle and Bellevue. Contact us at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com.

A motorist was injured on Wednesday evening after being involved in a motor vehicle accident with Sound Transit train in South Seattle. The motorist was taken to the hospital for treatment. No one on the train was injured.

According to a report on KomoNews.com, the motorist made an illegal left-hand turn in front of the train.

A KOMO News reporter said that even though the intersection is marked "No Turns", drivers made left turns anyway.

Sound Transit has been running a safety campaign warning motorists and pedestrians that, "Trains mover faster than they appear and cannot stop as quickly as a car. "

It seems like Seattle motorists need to get used to sharing the roads with the light rail. Click here to read a Safety Brochure.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent car accident victims who have been seriously injured due to the negligence of another motorist. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

To speak to an experienced personal injury attorney, contact The Farber Law Group. Phone us at 1-800-244-9087 or e-mail attorney@hgfarber.com.

The Olympian reports that a woman was hit and killed by a freight train in Lacey on Friday. According to the report, "Thurston County chief criminal deputy James Chamberlain said the woman’s death might have been a suicide." The conductor of the train said "[the woman] was walking straight into the train as it was approaching her, and there was no attempt to get out of the way."

The incident occurred near where Highway 510 crosses the railroad tracks.

Police have not the name of the woman but they say she may be a missing person from Olympia who had threatened suicide in the past.

This information has been brought to you by Washington Injury Attorney, service of The Farber Law Group. Personal injury specialists based in Bellevue, Washington, we have represented people with serious personal injuries and wrongful death claims for more than 30 years.

Contact us today for a free case evaluation.

Seattle's KOMO News.com reports that a woman was killed by a Amtrak passenger train in downtown Puyallup on Sunday afternoon. The woman, who was dead at the scene, apparently deliberately walked in front of the train near the intersection of Meridian and Stewart Avenue. Witnesses said that they believe her actions were deliberate.

This information was brought to you by Washington Injury Attorney, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are personal injury attorneys based in Bellevue, Washington and we represent people who have been killed or seriously injured in car accidents, construction accidents, train accidents or due to the negligence of another.

If your or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed due to the negligence of another, contact us today for a free case evaluation.

The Seattle Times reports than an Amtrak passenger train hit and killed a man in Auburn Washington today. This makes nearly a dozen pedestrian/train fatalities in Washington State this year. The unidentified man was killed around 3:26 pm near 37th Northwest and B Street. A passing motorist witnessed the incident and phoned 911. Fire Department officials believe the death was a suicide.

This information was brought to you by Washington Injury Attorney, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are railroad accident lawyers located in the Seattle area. With more than 30 years experience, we work for people with serious injuries caused by the negligence of others.

Contact us today for a free case evaluation.