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Working in a personal injury solicitor's office means that you are required to follow news stories from all over the world in a bid to stay abreast of findings and rulings regarding accident compensation. Sometimes these can be harrowing, particularly when innocent people have been killed or severely injured by what appears to be negligence, but that lack of care cannot be proved.
In September 2008, personal injury solicitors around the globe heard that an American train crash had allegedly been caused by a driver who was using his mobile phone moments before the passenger train he was in charge of, ploughed into an oncoming freight train. The driver was killed, along with 24 passengers and 135 others were injured.
The initial report into the railway accident suggested that the driver had run through a red signal.
At the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) federal hearing on 3rd March 2009, the panel heard testimony regarding the accident.
A supervisor for the railroad company employing the driver testified that he had warned the employee, on two occasions, that his use of a mobile phone at work violated railroad policy.
Testimony offered at the hearing appears to cause problems for the board as there were contradictory reports regarding the signal it. Four witnesses and the conductor who survived the train crash have claimed the signal was green, though all technical reports cite that it was red.
Presumably, the signal should have been red, and as such the train would have stopped and waited for the oncoming vehicle to finish traversing the horseshoe shaped piece of single line track. However, if the signal was green, it is those responsible for the signalling system who will be considered primarily at fault.
Mobile phone records have shown that the driver was using his phone to send and receive text messages whilst driving the train that day, but if an erroneous signal was a factor in the crash, liability will also rest with another party.
The NTSB website carries details of evidence and material findings used in the hearing, including evidence of drug abuse by the freight train driver who was also using his mobile phone while on duty. An animation of both train's movements, activation of track signals and representations of mobile phone use by the drivers appears to show the passenger train passing through a red signal.
However, the hearing is not responsible for apportioning blame; it will endeavour to establish an overview of the accident, examine technical reports into events leading up to the crash, hear witness testimony of the crash, and represent the findings of testing after the accident. The main objectives of the hearing were to determine the probable cause of the accident, report the facts conditions and circumstances relating to the accident, and to assist the NTSB in making recommendations to prevent similar accidents.
The hearing concluded after two days. Personal injury solicitor representing the families of the deceased and the injured passengers will be extremely interested in the findings of the hearing and it is likely that compensation claims will soon be forthcoming.
