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Three People Killed By Amtrak Train

By Chrissie Cole

Three Orlando, FL, residents were killed when an Amtrak train struck a car that was driving across the train tracks, according to authorities.

Although the railroad crossing arms were dropped and the lights were flashing, a Buick drove under them on Friday night, said the train conductor. According to investigators, the speedometer of the car was stuck at 55 mph after the crash, on a road that has a 40 mph limit.

The train sustained minor damage and none of the passengers were injured in the accident.

The sedan was crossing the tracks eastbound on Lancaster when a northbound Amtrak train carrying about 170 passengers crashed into it. The car went airborne, landing hundreds of feet away near a warehouse parking lot. It smashed into a parked tractor-trailer before overturning.

Three people were killed and one remains in critical condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

According to a safety-council Web site, a motorist is 30 times more likely to die in a crash involving a train than in one involving another vehicle; a typical train weighs the same as 4,000 automobiles combined. But the number of people killed as a result of grade-crossing collisions has decreased by 70 percent from a high of 1,115 in 1976 to 338 in 2007.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Full post as published by New York City Personal Injury Lawyer on November 29, 2008 (boomark / email).