Injury damages against UP are allowed to stand.

[Anonymous]

www.omaha.com
Click>>>Business News!

[MP57313]

Had to do a search but I found the article. "Repeated warnings" (to UP to clean up the brush) were ignored.

Is it damage awards like this that fired up UP to install all those reflective grade crossing crossbucks?

[Mookie]

Back to an earlier exchange here on the forum - was the railroad responsible for the area around the crossing? It seems to me that railroads are usually pretty responsible for their territory and keep the weeds down. Sounds like the court was pretty certain it was UP property?

[AntonioFP45]

To determine that court officers or the lawyers would simply have to look at property records that detailing property demcarcations. Could be indeed if the bushes were on the UP's right of way then they would be in a hard sling.

This goes back to discussions a while back. Since the late 70s the Class 1 railroads have drastically cut down the number maintenance department personnel citing high costs, yet with some roads the "management support positions" have been either cut on a smaller scale or actually increased. You get what you pay for.

Seems like it would have been cheaper for UP to have their track maintenance crew members chop down the weeds and brush instead of dragging its feet.

I'm guessing that perhaps the problem was reported but with the complex "chain of command" waiting for approval can be a long frustrating process.

[Anonymous]

Lawyers love railroads. They all think railroads have deep pockets and are easy targets.

In general if the lawyers are not sueing the railroad for not cutting bru***rees at crossings and therefor causing some fool to drive out in front of the train. They are sueing them for cutting the bru***ress because of a angry property owner liked the trees.

Same hold true for blowing the horn. The horn is to loud in one case, next day, the railroad did not blow the horn loud enough.

Really comes down to this. People do not obey the laws. To get hit by a train, you got to get in its way.

I will end with this.

IIt was a hot summer day, the cab windows were open. The horn was making my head hurt. The ear plugs were not enough after nearly 12 hours on the road.

I still see the woman's eyes, we made eye contact. She looked right at me as the engineer layed into the horn. Something told me she was going to try to beat us over the crossing.

She tried!

I still see her vehicle flying through the air.

She latter claimed there was no horn and she did not see us. I am glade she lived!

RIW

[gabe]

This is far from my area of expertise--but my understanding is that Tort recovery from crossing incidents has been substantially limited in recent years and is by no stretch of the imagination "an easy target."

[TH&B]

You know what I say about people who get in accidents with trains, "too bad you didn't get in an accident with a seven year old child on a bike, because then you would have had the better survival chance (especialy if you are in an SUV)." Besides if you can't see a train then how can you see a much smaller bicycle !?

You just gotta be not paying attension to be hit by a train?!?!?!

[Anonymous]

"Not paying attention",No.........
It's just that they DON'T CARE!