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[quote user="Informed"] I appreciate the discussion over the past several days regarding this subject.  I think you raised some good questions, but likely came to the wrong conclusion.  This doesn't surprise me as you were not privy to all of the evidence and details that were presented in this case.  Worse yet, I'm certain that I didn't present the data and subsequent findings in the detailed manner that it should have been in order for you to find fact in this accident.  Worse yet, you have effectively heard much of the detail in this case from myself, and I'm not qualified in this highly technical subject matter, to effectively communicate all of the facts.  However, the jury did get the benefit of reviewing all of the detail and physical eveidence that remained (minus that data and evidence that was either lost, altered, or destroyed by BNSF), and they've come to a different conclusion.  Having seen the arguments on both sides, it is still my firm belief that the jury made the right call.  [/quote] Well as I said above, I cannot reach a conclusion as to whether the signals failed, so I have no idea whether the jury made the right decision.  And while you have provided some specific details about the crash reconstruction and conclusion that the signals had failed, there are also other sources providing details on that matter, and those details fit what you have described.  However, in this entire body of information, I see no convincing evidence that the vehicle was correctly positioned in its proper lane when it was struck.  So I see no basis to conclude that vehicle did not run around the lowered gate.  That is my only conclusion.    <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Apparently the State Patrol agreed with me in their 2003 investigation when they found that the vehicle drove around the lowered gate, but reversed themselves for some reason and arrived at their conclusion today that the gates had failed to lower.  <o:p></o:p> I don’t doubt that there is a bewildering amount detail that transpired in the trial and is not readily available to the public.  If it was, it might take years just to read it and understand it.  Some of that inaccessible detail and evidence may indeed prove that the vehicle did not run around the lowered gate.  But since that is the pivotal point in proving signal failure, I would think the evidence for it would be highlighted and presented to the public as a key component of the news story detailing the result of the trial.  But I don’t see it. <o:p></o:p> I suspect that the actual process of the trial’s conclusion is so complex that it can never be communicated to somebody after the fact.  It may be so complex that it cannot be explained or even comprehended by those who participated in the trial.  With what has been mentioned by others regarding the spinning and splitting of hairs in this type of trial, I am not sure that the outcome can be logically and factually analyzed.  Maybe it just is what it is.  <o:p></o:p> So the news reporting is hopelessly lost is a quagmire of conflicting information with missing pieces.  The news reported that the initial police investigation concluded that there was no way to know the speed of the vehicle when it was hit.  Today, they say the vehicle had a black box that proved it was traveling 28 mph when it was hit.    The crossing is elevated substantially with the road rising on each side as it crosses the tracks.  I would not be surprised if a car crossing it at 28 mph became airborne.  I would be very surprised if a car could run around the lowered gates at 28 mph because the gates are only about eight feet from the nearest rail of each track.  It may be that the vehicle was traveling at 28 mph and ran around the first lowered gate.  And then, at that speed, it was destined fail to return to its proper lane in time to avoid hitting the second lowered gate; but got hit by the train before it got to the second gate.
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