Crash
Victim's Mom Presses Congress For Safer Rail Crossings
The
Repository - The West Side
2/23/99
A Canal Fulton woman
who started a foundation to improve rail crossings after
her son died in a 1995 car-train wreck was in Washington
on Monday, calling for Congress to make railroad safety a
priority.
Vicky Moore whose
son, Ryan, was one of three teens killed March 25, 1995,
in a car-train crash on the Stark-Wayne border, briefly addressed
the National Press Club as part of a push by RailWatch to
improve safety.
Mrs.
Moore, who founded The Angels on Track Foundation in the
wake of her son's death, noted that 80 percent of the country's
railroad crossings--about 131,000 in all-- have no warning
gates or lights. "All crossings that have vehicle traffic should
have an active warning device," she said. "Crossbucks
aren't enough."
The
$7 million a jury awarded Mrs. Moore's family as compensatory
damages for her son's death is being used to help upgrade
dangerous crossings. Three such crossings in Wayne County
are to get gates and lights, she said, with more to come. "We're
putting our money into the work of protecting these crossings
with gates and lights because the railroads just won't take
responsibility for making their own operations safe."
"Instead,
they treat this as our problem, and that's appalling."
Mrs.
Moore and members of RailWatch, a nonprofit coalition for
rail safety, shared with Press Club members a report that
details "an alarming
railroad safety record," said Sherry Kiesling Fox, RailWatch
executive director.
"Death rates
have remained virtually unchanged for most of this decade,
and train accidents involving hazardous materials spills
(occur) at the rate of one every two weeks,"
Mrs. Fox noted. "Unfortunately, the shameful safety record
of our nation's railroads is nothing new."
"We're
asking Congress to address the issue. Our goal is to keep
pushing until the railroads accept their responsibility
for public safety."
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