Iredell Law A blog dedicated to all things law. HOME ABOUT US RESOURCE CONTACT US LAWYER: 1998, 2001 TRAIN CRASHES ILLUSTRATE “PATTERN OF MISCONDUCT” Eejalr April 20, 2020 Uncategorized No Comment Three years ago, Hanifa Ajmeri was the passenger in a car that drove through a railroad crossing; not realizing the gate had been broken off during a snowstorm that day. The vehicle drove into the path of a freight train. The driver and Ajmeri were thrown from the car. She received severe head injuries and a shattered hip, and recently a jury awarded her a $9.1 million settlement for the March 9, 1998 accident at a Schamle Road crossing in Bloomingdale. That accident was only a few miles from a similar accident that happened Tuesday, January 9th, at a railroad crossing on Army Trail Road just west of Gary Avenue near Bloomingdale. Two people were severely injured on Tuesday when a gate didn’t work. Those accidents have more than proximity in common, says the personal injury lawyer who represents both Ajmeri and the latest accident victims; they show a “pattern of misconduct by Illinois Central Railroad.” “If railroad employees do their jobs, these two totally preventable crashes don’t happen,”. Ajmeri, 45, of Carol Stream, says some of the details of her accident elude her today. Nonetheless, she says she feels for the elderly couple injured in Tuesday’s crash, Francisca and Fidel Velarde of Addison. “This was a replica of my accident years ago,” Ajmeri said. “I know what they are going through because I’ve already been there.” “They’ve got to stay strong together and take care of one another.” In the 1998 accident, the Bloomingdale Police Department called an Illinois Central dispatching supervisor to report the crossing gate at Schmale Road had snapped off in the snowstorm, according to the transcripts of the call. The supervisor, however, failed to notify the dispatch operator, so no “stop and flag’ order was placed for the crossing In Tuesday’s accident, a railroad repair crew fixed one of the two malfunctioning crossings and notified the dispatcher of the repair. The dispatcher, however, lifted “stop and flag” orders at both crossings, which opened the door to the accident at Army Trail Road. Instead of stopping at the intersection and flagging the traffic, the train crew proceeded through the crossing at 50 mph. Canadian National/Illinois Central spokesman Jack Burke said the similarities between the two accidents ends at their being in the same vicinity and their involvement of the dispatch desk. He also said the railroad has taken steps since 1998 to increase safety at the grade crossings. “We now have a hotline number posted at every crossing for people to call in all crossing difficulties,” he said. “Previously, all calls went to the chief dispatcher. Now they all go to a separate help desk focused on troubleshooting.” He said railroad attorneys were studying the latest suit filed Thursday, January 11th, by Lanny F. Wilson, chairman of the DuPage Railroad Safety Council, said he hopes the accid.ent will draw attention to the need for safer crossings. He said he supports two safety upgrades for all grade-level crossings. The first is a four-quadrant crossing, in which the crossing gates block all lanes of traffic in each direction, rather than just half of the lanes. The other involves an infrared sensor that would automatically halt a train more than a mile from the crossing if gates were malfunctioning. “This technology and legal marketing is available and could be financially feasible if money was pooled together and a serious effort was made,” Wilson said. Post navigation PREVIOUS Previous post: CYCLIST GETS RARE WIN IN SETTLEMENT NEXT Next post: The Power of Television AUTHOR eejalr Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. RECENT POSTS Card Counting by Casinos Preferential Shuffling The Power of Television LAWYER: 1998, 2001 TRAIN CRASHES ILLUSTRATE “PATTERN OF MISCONDUCT” CYCLIST GETS RARE WIN IN SETTLEMENT RECENT COMMENTS ARCHIVES JANUARY 2021 APRIL 2020 FEBRUARY 2020 CATEGORIES UNCATEGORIZED META LOG IN ENTRIES FEED COMMENTS FEED WORDPRESS.ORG © Iredell Law 2021. Windflaw designed by Loft.Ocean.