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Accident-Prone Glendale Metrolink Crossing to Get Safety Upgrade

Metrolink is planning $6 million worth of safety improvements to an accident-prone crossing in Glendale, that Los Angeles Metrolink accident lawyers have long believed to be one of the riskiest and most accident-prone intersections in the system.

Out of Metrolink 312 crossings, the Doren Street crossing has a high accident risk because of a number of factors.  For one, this crossing sees a heavy flow of tanker trucks.  Besides, the crossing is located adjacent to a propane company.  There’s also a continuous flow of motor vehicles that often stop on the track.  All of these factors increase the accident risks at the crossing.  It is these accident risks that the safety improvements aim to mitigate.

Every day, about 90 freight and passenger trains travel through this particular crossing at high speeds.  In fact, this crossing is among the top eight most accident-prone Metrolink crossings.  Since 1995, at least six accidents have occurred at the Doren Crossing.  These accidents resulted in one fatality and one injury.

There are other reasons for the higher numbers of accidents at the Doren Crossing. This crossing is considered risky because of the population of drivers that uses this crossing.  These drivers are typically seen as reckless, and often indulge in dangerous behaviors that increase the risk of an accident.  In January this year alone, at least 28 drivers have been cited for stopping in the crossing.  Besides, two pedestrians were cited for walking in the railroad right-of-way.

Additionally, the safeguards that have been installed at the crossing are outdated, and fail to lower the risks of an accident.  The fact that propane tankers are frequently used at the crossing is also another high source of concern.   If a propane tanker were to get stuck on the track in the path of a speeding train, the results would be devastating.

It’s not as if Metrolink has not been aware of the risks at the Doren crossing.  The agency had been aware of the increased risks at this crossing for years now, but it is only now that the agency has been able to implement improvement projects.

Since the 2008 Chatsworth Metrolink crash, the agency has been under pressure to enhance commuter safety and prevent accidents like the kind that killed 25 people that year.  More than 100 people were also injured when the Metrolink plane crashed into a Union Pacific freight train.  That deadly accident was one of the worst in Southern California’s commuter rail history.  The accident was blamed on a distracted Metrolink engineer who was texting at the time.  Since then, Metrolink has rolled in a number of safety enhancements, including the installation of surveillance video cameras on trains.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of food poisoning. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

 

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