I read this in todays paper and had to pass it on. Read it carefully, especially the third and fourth paragraphs, and think about it. Then tell me how the railroad could have prevented it.
Residents rail at train deaths
By Kimberly K. Fu/Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/20/2007 06:33:40 AM PDT
Outraged over two recent train-related deaths in Suisun City, a local citizens group plans to speak out at tonight's Suisun City Council meeting over what it sees as a lack of rail safety.
"We want to find out why it's taken them so long to do anything," said Dwight Acey, spokesman for the Suisun Citizens League. "It should've been a month, at the longest."
On Feb. 23, local resident Van Smith, 82, was killed when his Saturn was struck by an Amtrak Coast Starlight train about a mile north of the Suisun/Fairfield Station.
Smith apparently had been driving south on Sunset Avenue around 10 a.m. as the crossing arms began lowering. Police said he drove under the arms, stopped on the northern-most track and attempted to reverse, but was unable to do so before being struck by the train. The impact reportedly pushed the vehicle more than 100 feet down the tracks and Smith was pronounced dead at the scene.
On March 2, 23-year-old Kenneth Langston, also of Suisun City, died after being struck by an Amtrak train in the same area.
Around 8:30 a.m., the bicyclist reportedly was walking north on Sunset Avenue along the tracks and was waiting for the eastbound train to pass when he was struck by a westbound train. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
At 7 p.m.tonight at Suisun City Hall, 701 Civic Center Boulevard, members of the Suisun Citizens League said they will address the City Council during the meeting's public comment session. Members plan to ask that city officials host a public discussion with the Public Utilities Commission, Rail Crossing Engineering Division, in Suisun to try to come up with solutions to the problem.
A similar meeting reportedly was held in July 2006 with solutions offered by the PUC, group officials said, but the solutions were never implemented.
The Suisun Citizens League is composed of Suisun residents bound by the mission to be a voice for residents and to organize, advocate, and to mobilize around issues of importance to the people of Suisun City.
Kimberly K. Fu can be reached at cops@thereporter.com.
