When a person is injured in a car accident, contacting an experienced personal injury lawyer is second nature. Most members of the public understand that injury lawyers can help them navigate accident benefits disputes and perhaps access compensation for their pain and suffering. But what happens when their injury is caused by another mode of transportation, such as a train?
Railway safety was in the spotlight this February 15, when the Transportation Safety Board (TSB), Canada’s rail safety investigator, released its report on the 2016 death of 29-year-old Steven Harel in Moncton, New Brunswick. Mr. Harel was struck by a train and killed in the early hours of July 27 after his motorized wheelchair became stuck in a public railway crossing. The report calls on governments and the nation’s rail companies ‘to make railway crossing safer for people who use wheelchairs and other mobility devices,’ according to the Globe and Mail.
Following the accident, Mr. Harel’s family retained a personal injury lawyer to help them seek justice for their son’s death. A lawsuit filed against the Canadian National Railway (CN), the City of Moncton, and others alleges that both CN and the city ‘neglected their “duty of care” to inspect, maintain and fix the railway tracks, crossing and city streets and sidewalks, and also failed to facilitate safe public transportation and prevent accidents, particularly with regard to wheelchair-specific hazards,’ the Globe reports.
The TSB’s report did not find fault with the train, the train’s crew, or the wheelchair. It also ruled out suicide as an explanation for the accident, and confirmed that Mr. Harel was not impaired by drugs or alcohol.
Since 1990, just five fatal accidents involving assistive devices and railway crossing have been recorded in Canada. However, fatalities and serious injuries involving trains in general are much less rare. According to Operation Lifesaver, in 2016, 65 people were killed and 44 seriously injured on Canada’s railways, including 22 fatalities and 10 serious injuries in Ontario, alone. Last year, those numbers jumped to 72 fatalities and 44 serious injuries nationwide, including 33 fatalities and 10 serious injuries in Ontario.
While the majority of these events involved trespassing, a substantial number took place at public crosswalks. In both of these scenarios, a serious injury could be grounds to initiate a personal injury claim. If you’ve been involved in an accident at a rail crossing, contact Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers right away to arrange a free, no-obligation consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer. Our team can assess the validity of your claim and guide you on your path to compensation and recovery.
Image credit: FlyingPenguins/Wikimedia Commons
Greg Neinstein
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