Dozens of People Injured in San Francisco Light Rail Accident
Aug 3, 2009 Auto & Car Crashes, Personal Injury
It was just last Saturday that two light rail trains in San Francisco crashed into one another at a boarding platform in the West Portal station. The accident injured approximately 50 people, possibly more. It seems that the first train crashed into the second train just as it was coming out from under a tunnel. Of the nearly 50 people that were injured, it has been confirmed that four of them have sustained severe injuries. Approximately half of the remaining injuries were moderate while the other half were minimal.
Unfortunately, this train accident is not the first that has occurred in the United States this year. In fact, it’s one of several that have happened over the course of just a few months. The most deadly accident of the year occurred at the end of June when a moving train crashed into a stationary train in the Washington DC Metro station. That accident injured over 70 people and killed 9 unlucky victims. Although police are still conducting their investigations to determine the exact cause of that crash, they believe that it occurred because of faulty, malfunctioning sensory equipment. Trains such as those in the Washington DC Metro are equipped with sensors that detect other trains or obstacles along the tracks and are designed to automatically stop the train when such obstacles are present. Police have reason to suspect, however, that these sensors were not working properly in the days before and possibly the day of the fatal crash in Washington DC.
It is possible that these types of mechanical errors also caused the trains in San Francisco to crash into one another last Saturday. Besides mechanical errors, however, police are also investigating potential errors on the part of the train conductors. Such an error was potentially the cause of a subway accident in Boston earlier this year. At the beginning of May, a Boston subway car crashed into another train, leaving at least 15 people injured. Police report that they suspected the conductor had been text messaging on his cell phone and, in doing so, missed a light. This light signaled the presence of the other train into which the conductor crashed.
Lawsuits are already being filed against the Washington DC Metro station after the accident that killed 9, and they are likely to begin soon in the San Francisco crash as well. Police have already begun their investigations to determine exactly what caused the accident, whether the cause is related to mechanical errors, human errors, or both. Both of these factors have potentially been the cause of at least two other train accidents that have occurred in the United States this year and, if left unaddressed, could potentially cause a series of other train crashed and injuries as well. For injuries sustained in San Francisco train accidents, many victims seek San Francisco train accident attorneys to help them file a claim. Personal injury attorneys have both knowledge and expertise in helping victims win these types of claims.
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