Train strikes car outside Atlanta, killing 3 women

[mahatmakanejeeves]

ETA: Hat tip, Trainorders: Eastern Railroad Discussion > GA. Deadly encounter between car and CSX

Train strikes car outside Atlanta, killing 3 women

Donesha Aldridge, WXIA-TV, Atlanta Published 5:57 a.m. ET July 31, 2018 | Updated 7:21 a.m. ET July 31, 2018

SOUTH FULTON, Ga. – Three women in a car struck by a train outside of Atlanta on Monday are dead and a fourth remains hospitalized.

Lt. Derrick Rogers with the South Fulton Police Department said the accident with the CSX train happened around 4 p.m. on the train tracks at Buffington Road near Roosevelt Highway.
....

A witness said she was sitting at a red light when she saw a black Impala with the four women inside drive around two other cars to try to beat the train.

"The train was already there, and I just seen the train hit the car and took the people down the street," said Shardai Jett. ... Jett said she went over to the car and tried to do what she could after the train hit, but she knew right away the paramedics were necessary.
....

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. When it's a tie at a crossing, you lose.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Seriously. Tie goes to the train.

The FRA just awarded some grants to get some OLI programs going in several states. Georgia is one of them.

From yesterday:

Operation Lifesaver, Federal Railroad Administration award safety grants in 16 states

July 26, 2018 Class I, Commuter/Regional, Freight, High Performance, Intercity, Light Rail, M/W, News, Passenger, Rapid Transit, Regulatory, Safety, Short Lines & Regionals, Switching & Terminal

OLI, FRA award safety grants in 16 states

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, Editor, Railway Track & Structures; and Engineering Editor, Railway Age

Operation Lifesaver, Inc., organizations in 16 states have been awarded grants that will be used to fund a variety of crossing safety and trespass prevention education efforts. ... The grants, which were awarded in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), total more than $200,000 with individual awards ranging between $1,800 and $20,000. The grants will benefit OLI programs in Alabama, California, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and South Dakota.

“We must continue to target grade-crossing and trespasser deaths with an unrelenting commitment toward zero tolerance,” says FRA Administrator Ronald L. Batory. “Educating the motoring and pedestrian public about how to be safe near railroad tracks is a never-ending task that will help reduce risk while enhancing safety.” ... OLI say the funds will support education projects being held in conjunction with Rail Safety Week, which will be observed in the U.S. and Canada from Sept. 23-29, 2018. The theme of this year’s Rail Safety Week is “Stop Track Tragedies.”

OLI Interim President Wende Corcoran said, “These grants, which fund innovative community outreach and education projects, are an important part of Operation Lifesaver’s ongoing rail safety efforts in 16 states across the U.S., in support of our mission to eliminate collisions, injuries and deaths at crossings and along rail property. We are grateful to our safety partners at the Federal Railroad Administration for their assistance, which will help raise public awareness of the need for safe behavior around tracks and trains.”

The state OLI recipients of the grants plan to use the funds for a variety of campaigns including television and radio advertising, geofencing campaigns, as well as various targeted campaigns based on geography, driving ability, occupation and other demographics. A full list of efforts can be found on OLI’s website. (1) ... Corcoran noted that the approved grants were awarded through a competitive process, with selection based on criteria such as successfully leveraging the federal funds with private partnerships, targeted messaging and the frequency of pedestrian-rail incidents and highway-rail collisions.

Categories: Class I, Commuter/Regional, Freight, High Performance, Intercity, Light Rail, M/W, News, Passenger, Rapid Transit, Regulatory, Safety, Short Lines & Regionals, Switching & Terminal
Tags: Breaking News, Federal Railroad Administration, Operation Lifesaver

(1) https://oli.org/

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. Misleading headline.

Should read something like: Woman murders three people by ignoring safety warnings.

I have read that virtually every train driver will at some point kill someone who shouldn't be on the train track at the time. It's a huge hazard of the job.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Every account I've seen of the incident makes it clear that the driver passed two stopped cars

in an attempt to beat the train.

I need to add a link to Trainorders, where I first read about this.

Good morning. And:

Always expect a train. Any time, any track, any direction.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. And a red light.

It would be interesting to find out, if the driver survives, exactly what she was thinking when she decided to pass two stopped cars and run a red light.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Around here, that's called "normal."

I came this close ---><--- to getting struck by a car last week. I was in a pedestrian. There must have been five cars stopped waiting for a light to change at the next intersection. The stopped cars had left a gap for pedestrians to use the crosswalk. I was walking between two to the stopped cars, when, at the last instant, I saw another car, going full tilt, passing all the stopped cars and barreling right through the crosswalk. Had I not seen him, at the speed he was going, I don't see how I could have survived being hit.