A person in my profession would see the Mother of the driving being as guilty as the son. "Diana told Local 4 she let her son borrow the car." She's at fault for letting him drive on a suspended license, but then again its not her fault that he ran the gates...

jbaakko Wrote:A person in my profession would see the Mother of the driving being as guilty as the son. "Diana told Local 4 she let her son borrow the car." She's at fault for letting him drive on a suspended license, but then again its not her fault that he ran the gates...

I noticed and thought the same thing too

I also have a funny feeling that the families might sue Amtrak cause the engineer "Did nothing to avoid the tragic occurrence".
We all know the engineer couldn't do a damn thing to avoid it, except grit his teeth and throw it into emergency stop. But I have a funny feeling, that's whats going to ensue.


Just a side note: My spell check actually had Amtrak..........

eightyeightfan1 Wrote:I also have a funny feeling that the families might sue Amtrak cause the engineer "Did nothing to avoid the tragic occurrence".
We all know the engineer couldn't do a damn thing to avoid it, except grit his teeth and throw it into emergency stop. But I have a funny feeling, that's whats going to ensue.

Yep. As if a multi-ton train that can't go anywhere else except for the rails its riding on can do anything about it. The gates were down, and several passengers noted that the horn was sounded at every crossing. There's nothing else that can be done.

A lawsuit is almost inevitable these days, as if it's the railroad's fault for having tracks there in the first place.

viperman Wrote:

jbaakko Wrote:A person in my profession would see the Mother of the driving being as guilty as the son. "Diana told Local 4 she let her son borrow the car." She's at fault for letting him drive on a suspended license, but then again its not her fault that he ran the gates...

I noticed and thought the same thing too

Seems they didn't file charges, as they said it would be hard to prove she knew, and he had only been suspended as of the day before.

jbaakko Wrote:A person in my profession would see the Mother of the driving being as guilty as the son. "Diana told Local 4 she let her son borrow the car." She's at fault for letting him drive on a suspended license, but then again its not her fault that he ran the gates...

Yes, I agree, she is at fault and has been punished to a degree greater than any court could impose.

2-8-2 Wrote:A lawsuit is almost inevitable these days, as if it's the railroad's fault for having tracks there in the first place.

It's an disturbing fact of life nowadays that many people won't accept responsibility for their own actions. The driver was forced to accept the consequences of his actions, but that, unfortunately, also ended the lives of his four friends and altered countless other lives forever.

There is a case, ongoing here in southern Ontario, of a woman, a bookkeeper/accountant for a winery, being convicted of embezzling several million dollars from her employer. She blew most of the stolen cash at the casino. Despite being found guilty and sentenced, she is attempting to sue the casino for allowing her to gamble (and lose), claiming they "enabled" her gambling "addiction".
Ridiculous as that sounds, she is also suing her former employer, who, she avows, "didn't properly examine her work to detect anomalies in the figures", and thereby failed to put an end to her illegal activities. In other words, since you didn't catch me, it's your fault.
Surprisingly, to me at least, the courts threw the book at her on the charges, although nowadays "the book" doesn't have the heft of days gone by. The lawsuits, meanwhile, have yet to be heard. I'm almost tempted to sue her for her attempts to waste the courts' time at my expense - why should crooks and lawyers be the only ones entitled to financial gain from the legal system?

As for the train accident, I see the more likely (and more likely winnable) lawsuit(s) to be against the mother of the driver for enabling her son (already demonstrably out-of-control) to be behind the wheel in the first place. And let's face it, folks, there's nothing like a few million to ease the loss of a loved one.

Wayne

Wow Wayne, you guys have that stuff in Canada, too?

It is even worse than people not taking responsibility after they do something against the law. There are plenty of people that assume that if it isn't against the law or defined moral code, or if it is extremely unlikely they will get caught, it is okay to do . One piece of wisdom that my dad passed on to me is that you can never get something for nothing. If you ever get something without producing something of value in return, all you are doing is taking advantage of someone else - even if they don't realize it. That woman tried to get something for nothing from her employer, and then when she gambled that money, and then again by filing a lawsuit.

A terrible tragedy indeed. My wife and I have enjoyed playing the video over and over again. It's a burst of reality that truly never has been exposed in such a raw format.

Mark

I showed the video to my 4yr old son. He has seen videos like this on the news, but a reminder is never a bad thing. I also like taking him to the train museum, so he can see there is a time/place to get up and close, and not to be stupid behind the wheel

Well...I'm not sad that the driver of the car took himself out of the gene pool. I just wonder what society will miss not having the other teens around. Maybe a scientist, engineer, or doctor?? Or maybe one of each. :|
Tragedies of this nature are regular occurences. Not specifically trains and cars meeting each other up close and way too personal, but losing young people who have a great deal of promise. Just last week, two young people, both students at VT, were found murdered in a part of the Jefferson Nat'l. Forest, just a few miles off campus. :cry: