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Impacts on the completion of the railroad
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Purpose of Article
On February 3, 2015, a Metro-North train slammed into an SUV, killing five civilians. This latest train collision has sparked a notice of how often people die from train collisions. An average of five people each week are killed in train collisions, far more than those who lose their lives in commercial airline crashes. After the receptive notice of train collisions, authorities have begun to question, who is to blame for the impact. Civilians who are hurt by a train incident, blame the railroad safety. Many believe that railroad companies are not doing enough to protect drivers from becoming isolated on a railroad. On the other side, train companies blame drivers for the collisions, believing it is the ignorance of
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Although the state and local government are responsible for keeping railroad crossings safe, but railroads can be complicit in allowing conditions to deteriorate the track, causing dangerous crossing conditions. An investigation by the New York Times on railroad companies showed a persistent pattern of railroad cover-ups in cases of fatal crashes. Records of the incident were destroyed, and before lawyers could inspect the track, it was quickly fixed, leaving no evidence of a wreck behind. After a court situation, judge Ellen Maas wrote, “The railroad knowingly advanced lies, misleading facts, and/or misrepresentations in the legal proceedings.” The author blames railroads for containing “killing zones” and that the railroad has been slow to innovate protection. Malfunctions in warning lights and broken crossing gates are what lead to vehicle accidents. A consistent stream of railroad accidents in the world supports the author’s theory, that railroads are to blame for vehicle …show more content…
However, in my opinion, drivers are often to blame for these accidents. When approaching a crossing, trains blare their horns, alerting drivers. Then it is most common for boom gates to lower and for lights to flash. It depends if the driver is willing to driver under, or around the boom gate(s). It takes trains about one mile to stop, where it takes a passenger vehicle only 200 feet to stop. Civilians that are daredevil drivers and think that they can avoid the train, will drive quickly across, but may be hit by the train. In court the railroad is to blame because they were not doing enough to protect the drivers. Railroads have every possible aspect to provide safety for crossing drivers. It depends if the driver is willing to wait a few minutes to pass, or jump the track and possibly lose their
In Henry George’s article, What the Railroad Will Bring Us, it discusses the main social, political, and economic transformations that the trans-continental railroad would bring to the state of California. More importantly, he discusses not only the benefits, but also discusses the major drawbacks with the arrival of the railroad. Henry George stated the railroad would be the “greatest work of the age” (297). With a railroad stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, multiple benefits would be brought to the state of California. First, the railroad will not only create a new means of transportation across the United States, it additionally would also become “one of the greatest material prosperity” of its time (298). This means more people, more houses,
Who is legally responsible for this incident? From the report, it was ruled as a normal accident. This may be the case since it was not due to negligence on the locomotive operator or the tugboat captain. It was an unfortunate event that resulted in the loss of several lives. As a nationally recognized company Amtrak, it is in their best interest to compensate the passengers and the loved one’s families to maintain a good public reputation. Even though legally they are not responsible for the loss, they have a social responsibility to react in this
The theories in which I base my decision on are res ipsa loquitor and negligence per se. Res ipsa loquitor means that “it creates a presumption that the defendant was negligent because he or she was in exclusive control of the situation and that the plaintiff would not have suffered an Injury”. Negligence per se means “an act of the defendant that violates a statute regulation or ordinance can be used to establish a breach of the duty of due care” (Mayer et al,. 2014, p. 163). Therefore, the injuries of the Prius driver and the people at the train station, I believe that George is at fault of negligence, because of negligence, carelessness and is foreseeable. Now as for the sparks from the wiring caught that lead to the other chain of events. I feel that George should not be held accountable for negligence, because it was unforeseeable. He could not prevent that it can cause a barn to explode and setting forth a series of
Since the beginning of the United States the American people have been on the move. Public transportation has played a major role in the development of this nation and in bringing its citizens together. In the book “Divided Highways”, author Tom Lewis takes the reader on a journey of the building of the Interstates and the consequences(good and bad) that came from them. Lewis believes that the Interstates are a physical characteristic of America and that it shows “all our glory and our meanness; all our vision and our shortsightedness”(xiv).
The Transcontinental Railroad was the largest project the United States had ever seen. Due to lack of technology, the enormous size of the project, and the environmental conditions, the railroad seemed to be an impossible task. This construction project posed a huge challenge to those working on it. The railroad’s route would span nearly seven hundred miles into desert and unexplored country. People had never traveled so far west before and there were no established cities there. Workers had to set up camps that were often disorganized and filled with crime. The railroad would pass through mountain ranges at extremely high elevations. Workers would blast through the granite of the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain ranges, making only inches of progress everyday. Hunters used railroad lines to hunt buffalo, which was the main source of Native American food at the time. Between 1875 and 1885, northern and southern buffalo herds had been wiped out. Native Americans became upset when railroad companies seized their land. This resulted in many attacks on construction crews and the deaths of many engineers. When the workers weren't at work or asleep, they were at war with local tribes. Many workers kept loaded rifles at hand in the case of an Indian attack. The crews kept on working though, and by 1869 were laying track at an impressive rate How...
Crichton, Michael. The Great Train Robbery. First Ballantine Books ed. N.p.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975. Print.
...ces an extensive dialogue within the text with an image of the train, arousing a modern anxiety of doom: the destructive capabilities of rapidly growing technology are seizing an innocent and aweless existence.
The growth of the railroad was one of the most significant elements in American economic growth, yet it hurt small shippers and farmers in many ways. Extreme competition between rail companies necessitated some way to win business. To do this, railroads would offer rebates and drawbacks to larger shippers who used their rails. This practice hurt smaller shippers, including farmers, because often times railroad companies would charge more to ship products short distances than they would for long trips. This was known as the “long haul, short haul evil”. The rail companies justified this practice by asserting that if they did not rebate, they would not make enough profit to stay in business. So while the railroads felt that they must use this practice to make a profit, the farmers were justified in complaining, for they were seriously injured by it. A perfect example of this fact can be found in The Octopus by Frank Norris. In The Octopus a farmer named Dyke discovers that the railroad has increased their freight charges from two to five cents a pound. This new rate, “…ate up every cent of his gains. He stood there ruined.
The adoption of the rail system in the United States not only revolutionized the transportation of people, goods, and information but also revolutionized the transportation of pathogens. The rapid growth in transportation, the cramped living spaces, travel arrangements and poorly organized sanitation protocols exacerbated the rampant spread of disease. The lack of public health policies of the time showed that the United States was not ready for the silent killers that would accompany passengers as they rode the rails. The United States government was forced to find a way to deal with the spread of disease throughout the nation’s railways. The railroad played a major role in forging the history of many countries, including the United States of America.
8.) Great Britain. Department for Transport. London. Relationship between Speed and Risk of Fatal Injury: Pedestrians and Car Occupants. By Richards. Transport Research Laboratory, Sept. 2010. Web. .
Question at Issue - How are the engineer and railroad negligent? What could have been done by the engineer and railroad company to prevent the accident? Would more training have invoked a different preventative response from the engineer? Are the current railroad safety regulations sufficient? Are there any warnings on the road before it curves towards the track? If you didn’t know the area would you clearly be able to spot a train? What if a car was stalled on the tracks? Would a train
Railroads were America’s first big business and contributed a great deal towards advancing industrialization. Beginning in the early 1870's, railroad construction in the United States expanded substantially. Before the year 1871, approximately fourty-five thousand miles of track had been laid. Up until the 1900's another one-hundred and seventy thousand miles were added to the nation's growing railroad system. This growth came about due to the erection of transcontinental railroads. Railroads supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, materials, and access to markets. The railroad system made way for an economic prosperity. The railroad system helped to build the physical growth of cities and towns. It even became another means of communication. Most importantly, it helped to produce a second
Commonly, vehicular collisions are considered a negative occurrence. Dave Eggers hints towards this mindset in his short story Accident. Plotted in the middle of an intersection in 2005, the story commences with the main character driving his automobile through the intersection and striking an older Camaro. The three teenagers in the Camaro are fine, but the main character notices all the damage he has done to their vehicle and he fears an unpleasant encounter with them. Dave Eggers uses irony throughout the situation to illustrate the main character’s relief. The characters’ involvement with the collision emphasizes Egger’s theme that no matter how unfortunate an incident, positivity can result.
British Rail Board was held liable for the incident as the board was responsible under “Vicarious Liability” principle. British Rail was fined £250,000 but no one was prosecuted for manslaughter.
In the story the signalman is shown as being powerless to stop the horrible accidents involving the train just like humans are powerless to prevent train crashes from happening.