Personal Injury Law

Motorists at increased risk for railroad crossing accidents in Chicago

By Kris Briggs

A Chicago railroad crossing accident forced a trucker to bail out of his rig on Monday morning. The truck became wedged on the tracks, with traffic both in front and behind him, when an approaching train forced him to run for his life.

The crossing at Nagle Avenue near Avondale Avenue is on the Northwest Side and was featured that same day on the front-page of the Chicago Tribune as one of the area's most dangerous. This week's crash is the sixth in as many years at the busy intersection.

The state rail safety office said the crossing was being operated by the Illinois Department of Transportation, which reported that the City of Chicago is responsible for the intersection's operation.

Other dangerous railroad crossings in the area include 119th Street west of I-57 and Chestnut and Lehigh avenues in Glenview.

Earlier this month, The Federal Railway Administration put Illinois on a list of 10 states with the highest number of railroad crossing accidents. The states must produce a plan to improve railroad crossing safety by August 2011. Seventy-eight Illinois railroad crossing accidents were reported last year.

Illinois officials pin the blame for the high number of accidents on the fact that the state has the second-highest number of crossings in the nation, after Texas. Comparing states based on the number of collisions per-vehicle traveled would place Illinois 34th.

The federal government rejected that methodology and has ordered the state to submit a plan to improve crossing safety. The Illinois Commerce Commission reports that 16 people were killed and 40 were injured in crossing accidents in the last year.

Full post as published by Illinois Injury Law Blog on July 13, 2010 (boomark / email).