Washington State grant will fund gate at deadly railroad crossing in Mabton

Grant will fund gate at deadly railroad crossing in Mabton
By ROD ANTONE, YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC, November 28, 2007

A car drives through a dangerous ungated railroad crossing Sunday in Mabton.

Ten years after the first of three traffic fatalities at a Mabton railroad crossing, the state is finally installing a crossing gate to protect motorists.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission has approved a $20,000 grant to pay for a crossing gate at the tracks near the intersection of State Routes 241 and 22, where three drivers have died since 1997, including one in August. While there are warning lights that flash when a train is approaching, there is no gate to prevent motorists from driving over the tracks.

"The history of the crossing indicated that perhaps a higher level of warning was appropriate at this location," said Ahmer Nizam, railroad liaison of the Washington State Department of Transportation Design Office.

All three fatalities involved motorists driving across the tracks and getting hit by freight trains, according to federal accident reports. The flashing lights were working during all three collisions, the accident reports say. The state says that its review of all three accidents found that the drivers drove past the flashing lights onto the tracks.

"There are flashing lights at the crossing and there's clear sight distance of the signals," Nizam said. "But the human factor is always a difficult area of traffic safety investigation."

State, county and local governments in Washington are legally responsible for operating their roads in reasonably safe conditions. Railroad crossings are the responsibility of the unit of government that oversees the particular road involved. Government agencies can be, and have been, sued for negligence by victims of accidents and their families. Pierce County was hit with a $5.4 million verdict arising from a train-car accident in the early 1990s that severely injured a female passenger in the car. The crossing lacked even a stop sign.

The WSDOT Design office began reviewing whether warning equipment at the Mabton crossing was adequate after being contacted by the Yakima Herald-Republic this summer and informed that there had been two fatal crashes in the past two years, Nizam said.

The last crash took place Aug. 23. Robert Borton, 67, of Yakima was killed when his car was struck by a Burlington Northern-Santa Fe grain train from Tacoma. On Aug. 3, 2005, Miguel Lua, 33, of Sunnyside was killed the same way.

Reports stated that neither Lua nor Borton had stopped or stalled on the tracks. They were driving along when they were hit by the trains, which both were reportedly traveling at 49 miles per hour. Both crashes took place in daylight hours during clear conditions.

After starting to investigate the crossing, WSDOT officials learned of a third crash at the same crossing that killed a 36-year-old driver Nov. 9, 1997. Although the report in that case mentioned foggy conditions that night, it does not state whether the weather was a factor in the crash.

The crash reports -- which must be filed with the federal government in fatal accidents involving trains -- finally prompted WSDOT to file a petition with the Utilities and Transportation Commission for grant money to upgrade warning devices at the train crossing. The $20,000 grant was approved Nov. 14. The price of the gate and installation is estimated at $32,469, and the cost difference will be picked up by the state.

"We're happy that the funding has come through to improve that railroad crossing," said WSDOT spokesman Mike Westbay. "There have been some tragic incidents and we look forward to making it safer."

Even with the new gates, however, railroad officials say the best safety precaution for motorists is to be careful when approaching the tracks. Burlington Northern spokesman Gus Melonas said that even with automatic warning devices at crossings, there are still many accidents.

So far this year, 14 people have been killed by trains in Washington, including 11 pedestrians and three motorists, Melonas said. Nine of the pedestrians who died were trespassing on railroad property by walking on the tracks, he said.

"Although there are warning devices, we still encourage the public to be aware of the dangers and expect the movement of a train on any track at any time from any direction," Melonas said.

At the county level, two years ago Yakima County upgraded five railroad crossings with gates and warning lights between Toppenish and White Swan. County Transportation Engineer Manager Kent McHenry said there have been several accidents at that crossing and county officials "thought it would be a good idea" to install gates and lights.

"There are a lot of crossings in this county and I would say less than half have lights or gates up," McHenry said.

WSDOT's Westbay said the only other railroad crossing without gates in Yakima County that involves a state highway is at State Route 97 and Branch Road in Toppenish. There are warning lights there, Westbay said, but there are no plans to install crossing gates because the road is too wide.

Unlike the crossing in Mabton, he said, drivers at State Route 97 and Branch Road actually stop when they get to the tracks.

"If people are stopping and obeying the signal lights, then there's no cause to do anything," Westbay said.

Plaintiff attorneys familiar with railroad crossing lawsuits say it behooves state, county and local governments to upgrade safety devices to prevent accidents rather than wait for one to happen before acting.

Keith Kessler, a partner at Stritmatter Kessler in Hoquiam and Seattle, who won the previous $5.4 million verdict, said many crossings in rural areas in Washington and other states lack flashing lights or crossing gates. In contrast, in Europe, even rural railroad crossings have lights and gates, he said.

"It's not impossible to sue," said Terry Abeyta, senior partner at Abeyta Nelson in Yakima. He said that if the state was notified or should have been aware of the problems at the Mabton crossing, it may be liable. Given that there were three deaths at the same crossing over 10 years, Abeyta said, "that sounds like pretty good facts to be working with."

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