If you were injured in a railroad accident, whether as a passenger or as a railroad employee, you deserve compensation. The Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) covers railroad workers when an accident occurs as a result of the railroad’s negligence. Injured passengers can seek compensation by taking legal action.
A Long Island railroad accident lawyer will work to recover damages you incurred as the result of your accident. Call Friedman & Simon, L.L.P. at 516-932-0400 for a free case review.
Common Causes of Train Accidents
With the number of trains running from, to, and within New York, the number of passengers and workers is correspondingly large, and so is the number of accidents.
Train accidents can happen as a result of several causes, including the following:
- The train operator made a mistake
- The conductor was negligent
- The platform was wet or oily
- The bridge collapsed
- The train crossing malfunctioned
- The equipment failed
- The train collided with a vehicle attempting to cross train tracks
- The train collided with another train
- The track was not properly maintained
If human error is a factor in a train accident, this typically involves the engineer’s driving at an excessive speed, failing to brake in a timely manner, and/or being distracted.
Often, the accident was caused by a combination of human error and track malfunctions. Either way, the railroad should be liable for injuries that result from these accidents.
For a free legal consultation with a railroad accidents lawyer serving Long Island, call 516-932-0400
Proving Fault
The first step we take in handling your Long Island railroad accident injury case is to identify the party at fault for the accident.
The legal team at Friedman & Simon, L.L.P. will investigate your case to determine not only how your train accident happened, but also who is at fault. Depending upon the particulars of your case:
- We will visit the scene of the accident and collect evidence
- We will obtain official police reports
- We will talk to witnesses and review witness accounts of the accident
- We will work with accident reconstruction specialists to fully understand how the accident happened
Long Island Railroad Accident Lawyer Near Me 516-932-0400
Establishing Liability
The next essential step we take in your railroad accident personal injury case is to tie the at-fault party we identified to the law’s definition of liability.
To accomplish this, we must do the following:
- Establish that a party (the railroad) had a duty to take reasonable steps to keep you protected from harm, danger, and injury.
- Establish that the party failed in this duty of care.
- Establish that this failure caused your accident that resulted in your injuries.
- Establish that you have suffered damages as a result of your injury.
Our Long Island railroad accident lawyers at Friedman & Simon, L.L.P. will prove fault and establish liability for your train accident. Tell us about your case today and obtain a free, no-obligation case review by calling 516-932-0400.
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Calculating Damages
Once we have determined who is liable for your injuries, we will turn our attention to the damages we are going to demand on your behalf.
Types of Recoverable Damages in a Long Island Railroad Accident
- Emergency transportation, including ambulance and helicopter
- Doctor and surgeon fees
- Hospitalization charges
- Medical treatment, both current and ongoing/future
- Prescription medicine
- Medication for pain management
- Physical therapy
- Rehabilitation services
- Pain and suffering
- Anxiety and other forms of emotional distress
- Wages you lost as a result of missing work due to your injuries
- Other lost income
- Diminished quality of life
- Diminished future potential earnings
- Replacement services
If a loved one died in a railroad accident caused by another party’s negligence, you may pursue a wrongful death action. Our attorneys will prosecute this case on your behalf with compassion. We are determined to win the compensation you are entitled to and the justice your departed loved one deserves.
Our legal team will request damages after tying dollar figures to the above categories and other damage types that are appropriate to your case.
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Injuries Resulting from Railroad Accidents
Victims in railroad accidents can suffer a myriad of injuries, including:
- Cuts and lacerations
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Bone breaks ( fractures)
- Bruises and contusions
- Injuries to the back
- Back and neck injuries
- Burns
- Other musculoskeletal and neurological injuries
Determining Your Damages with Expert Opinions
Some of the numbers we factor in will come from experts who can speak to the effect your injuries will have on your life. For example, one expert might offer an opinion about your future employability in your profession—or even in other careers you would have been able to pursue, but, because of your injuries, are no longer career options for you.
Some of the medical experts we can tap for this purpose are:
- Medical records
- Economic experts
- Vocational experts
- Lifecare planners
Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA)
If you were a railroad employee when you sustained injuries from a train accident, you are protected by FELA. This law was put in place to compensate railroad workers who were injured while working on the country’s developing railroads.
FELA claims require proof that the railroad contributed to or caused your injury. Once this is established, you are entitled to compensation.
Discuss your case with a FELA accident claims attorney today.
Filing Your FELA Claim in Your Long Island Railroad Case
It is important that you begin the process early, as there are deadlines associated with filing a claim after an accident. By working with a lawyer, you can rest assured that these deadlines, and every other procedural aspect of timely filing your claim or action, are met.
Getting an early start will give your injury attorney the time to build a sturdy case. The sooner you contact us, the greater our opportunity to build the strongest case possible on your behalf.
Hire a Long Island Railroad Accident Lawyer Today
You deserve compensation for the injuries you sustained in your train accident. Our Long Island railroad accident lawyers are eager to help you.
When you call our office, you can speak to members of our team in multiple languages, including Spanish, English, Bengali, Greek, Tamil, and Kannada).
Call us today at 516-932-0400. And remember, it costs nothing up front to hire an injury lawyer. You pay us nothing unless and until you recover compensation.
Long Island Railroad Accidents News
Teenager Walking On Tracks Struck And Killed By Amtrak Train In Hanahan
Trespassing onto railroad tracks has become an increasing concern. While many of the reasons for people trespassing on railroad tracks are unknown, there are some that are known. Sometimes, people climb down onto subway or railroad tracks to retrieve an item they dropped. Many times, these items are cell phones or earbuds. At times, homeless people may walk along the tracks in subway tunnels to escape poor weather conditions and to stay warm. People recording videos and taking selfies to post to social media are also a common problem. Others walk on the tracks with the intention of committing suicide. In most cases, the reason they were on the tracks remains unknown.
Live 5 News reports that the victim in a collision with a train in Hanahan has been identified. The incident occurred on January 9th and involved an Amtrak train in Hanahan. A teenage pedestrian was killed in the incident.
The Berkeley County Coroner identified the victim as 17-year-old Bethany Ridenour. She was on the tracks in the area of Hanahan Road and Railroad Avenue. The train was unable to stop and struck Ridenour.
The incident happened at about 10 a.m. and it took more than four hours to clear the train tracks. Service resumed at about 2:44 p.m. A portion of Hanahan Road was closed off so that officers can investigate.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the railroad police are leading the investigation.
Toddler Falls To Death At Fulton Street Subway Station
The Sun reports that a toddler was killed on the New York Subway in Manhattan. The tragic accident occurred at about 5:36 p.m. on Wednesday in Manhattan at the Fulton Street subway station.
The two-year-old boy was walking down the steps ahead of his mother. The mother had her hands full with packages. When they reached the bottom of the stairs and walked onto the subway platform, the boy was separated from his mother.
The boy approached the oncoming train and fell onto the tracks, getting pinned between the train and the platform. He was pulled from the tracks and rushed to New York Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
This is the second accidental subway death in recent days. Another occurred at the Broadway Junction Station when a 23-year-old woman drunkenly stumbled off the subway platform and was trapped between two subway cars as the train departed.
For the most part, traveling via the subway is a safe method of transportation. Yet, when compared to all other forms of mass transit, subways have the highest fatality rate. Between 1990 and 2003, there were 668 subway-related fatalities in New York City. 1.5% of them were homicides. 47.2% were accidental. The majority, 51.3%, were determined to be suicides. Men are more likely than women to suffer an accidental death on a subway, at 90.8% compared to 9.2%. However, that statistic is reversed when it comes to fatalities attributed to suicide, with women more likely to die in a subway suicide than men.
Train And Truck Collide On Long Island
Operation Lifesaver began in 1972, their focus was to help prevent train versus auto collisions, which were responsible for 12,000 collisions between trains and autos annually. Since they began operation, that number has experienced a steep decline of 83% by 2017, when there were only 2,100 such collisions. The organization focuses on education, including educating teen and other new drivers about what to do at railroad crossings. Included in the educational materials is showing that when compared to a 30-car freight train, an auto is roughly the equivalent of a soda can. A person involved in an auto versus train collision is 80 times more likely to die than in an accident with another automobile.
ABC News reports on a deadly train versus truck collision in Long Island, New York.
On Tuesday, February 26th, two commuter trains crashed into a truck in Westbury, New York. Following the collision, one of the trains derailed and tore into a concrete platform.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder reported that the driver of the pickup truck was trying to “beat the gate” when it was struck. One of the trains, bound for Manhattan, was traveling at full speed and carrying 200 passengers at the time of the accident.
The accident killed three people in the truck, including the driver, and sent seven passengers to the hospital with injuries. More than 1,000 commuters and crew from the two trains had to be evacuated from the site.
After the initial crash, another train heading westbound towards Westbury then struck the vehicle. The impact caused the front two cars to derail.
Tuesday’s crash was the fifth incident at that crossing in the last 40 years. It was the second incident involving a vehicle. All other incidents involved people walking or standing on the tracks being struck.
Train Strikes Tractor-Trailer In Rockland County
In 1981, the Federal Railroad Administration began keeping track of when trains collided with vehicles at railroad crossings. That year, there were 9,461 collisions with 728 reported fatalities and 3,293 injuries. In 2015, the agency reported 2,075 collisions with 265 fatalities and 798 injuries. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a motorist is about 20 times more likely to die in a crash involving a train than a crash involving another motor vehicle. There are many reasons that a train might strike a car. At times, the car breaks down or stalls on the tracks. Another common reason for these crashes is that a vehicle attempts to beat the train.
CBS Local New York reports that a train struck a tractor-trailer in Rockland County. The incident occurred at about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Route 17 and Washington Avenue in Sloatsburg.
The 5:25 p.m. train from Secaucus, New Jersey slammed into a tractor-trailer as horrified witnesses looked on. The collision was also captured on video by one of the witnesses, Chris Schuct. The impact of the train hitting the big rig split the trailer in two, spilling HP laser printers onto the ground.
No injuries were reported in the accident. The driver of the truck remained on the scene. Witnesses report that the driver of the truck became stuck while trying to navigate the railroad crossing. It is unclear if the train driver will be issued any citations.
Train Struck Tractor Trailer At A Railroad Crossing
Almost everyone with a driver’s license learned in driver’s education classes to always approach a railroad crossing with caution. Most people stop and wait once the caution arms come down and the lights that indicate that a train is coming begins to flash. However, some people will try and beat the train, sometimes with horrific results. Preliminary statistics reveal that in 2017, there were 2,123 collisions at railroad crossings, resulting in 271 fatalities and 844 injuries. The number of collisions increased in 2018, with 2,217 collisions, resulting in 262 fatalities and 840 injuries.
My Central Jersey reports that service on the Raritan Valley Line was suspended after a train struck a tractor-trailer.
The crash occurred at about 6:30 A.M. at the Cedar Avenue Crossing in Middlesex, New Jersey.
There were 340 customers and crew onboard the train at the time of the collision. No injuries were reported. The driver of the truck also escaped injury.
According to an NJ Transit release, the Raritan Valley Line train 5710 departed High Bridge at 5:51 A.M. It was scheduled to arrive at Newark Penn Station at 7:10 A.M. At the Cedar Avenue Grade Crossing in Middlesex, the train struck a tractor-trailer.
It appears that the tractor-trailer became disabled as it attempted to cross the railroad tracks.
This is not the first accident this year at this crossing. On January 3rd, two women were killed when a train struck their vehicle. Another fatality occurred when a train struck a 17-year-old on January 24th.
Two People Struck By Subway Trains In Separate Accidents On Same Day
Data that is maintained by the Federal Rail Administration reveals that train deaths have risen steadily over the past decade. They peaked in 2017. 888 people were killed in train-related incidents that year. 575 of them were trespassing on the tracks. All train tracks are considered to be private property but remain easily accessible. Anyone who is walking along the wooden cross ties is considered to be trespassing. In New York alone, there were 900 incidents in 2017 where someone was on the tracks or was hit by a train. Only 43 of the incidents were determined to have been suicides, though it is hard to know what motivated the others.
The NY Post reports that two people were struck by trains in separate accidents in Queens and Brooklyn on Saturday night. The two people were struck by subway trains within 30 minutes of one another on Saturday night.
In the first incident, a woman who has not been identified was struck by the E train at around 11 p.m. She had been walking along the tracks at the Jamaica-Van Wyck station at Kew Gardens. She was taken to Jamaica Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
About thirty minutes later, four men were hanging out next to the tracks of the Q line near Avenue U. One of the men was hit by a train. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
It is currently unknown why the victims were on the tracks.
Van Struck By Two LIRR Trains At Dangerous Crossing
The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) crossing which was the site of a fatal accident last week is one of the busiest and most dangerous crossings. Some 200 commuter trains pass by the crossing every day, some traveling at speeds of 80 miles per hour. It was so dangerous that the city had decided to eliminate the crossing with a construction project beginning next year. Despite the dangers of the crossing, three men in a van trying to beat the trains were struck by first one train and then another. Authorities believe they may have been fleeing from an accident at the time of the fatal crash, as the New York Times reports.
The construction work at the School Street crossing of the LIRR tracks was scheduled to begin next year. Before that, safety features had been installed, such as attention-getting delineators, which are rubber, to get a driver’s attention as they drive over them approaching the tracks. This is the first accident at that crossing since the delineators were installed.
The men in the car had just left a nearby restaurant when they were involved in a minor fender bender. When the owner of the vehicle that was struck went to her car to retrieve a cell phone, they left the scene.
Once at the School Street crossing, it appears that the driver of the van attempted to beat the oncoming train, which had just left the Westbury LIRR station. This eastbound train was the first to strike the vehicle. The vehicle was then struck by a westbound train, where it burst into flames.
The vehicle was all but destroyed according to authorities. The only thing left of the vehicle is the engine.
The westbound train headed to the Westbury station crashed into the platform.
As a result of the accident, the main line had to cancel 12 trains and Manhattan-bound trains during the morning rush had to pass by the wreckage.
Wood Falls From Train, Pierces Windshield Of Motorist
The New York transit system, which consists of both subways and above ground trains, is the busiest in the United States. In 2016, 5.7 million people rode the subway on the average weekday. This makes the New York subway system the 7th busiest in the world. However, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or MTA, is struggling to keep trains running on time with ancient signals and 900 incidents in 2018 alone of people being on or near the tracks. Another thing that the MTA is struggling with is crumbling infrastructure; the Gothamist reports on a piece of wood falling from the 7 line and piercing a truck’s windshield.
The incident happened on February 27th as the driver sat beneath the tracks at 65th and Roosevelt in Woodside today. The piece of wood pierced the passenger side of the vehicle’s windshield.
Thankfully, no one was injured in the incident. Had it been just moments before, the driver would have had a passenger. Just before the falling piece of wood struck his truck, he had dropped someone off at Jollibee.
City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer called for the MTA to make an immediate investigation of the “crumbling subway infrastructure” before someone is seriously injured.
Further, transit reporter Aaron Gordon said that a source informed him that the piece of wood was from the girders that support the tracks, and not the tracks or the trackbed itself. The tracks were determined to be safe for use.
The MTA is making a full investigation, but preliminary findings indicate that the piece of wood was from a worker or supply platform that had been installed beneath the tracks years ago.
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