RAIL
CROSSING DECISION UPSETS STARK FAMILY
Canal Fulton mother who lost son in accident thought Supreme
Court would rule in favor of Tennessee family
The
Beacon Journal
April 18, 2000
By: George Davis
- Staff Writer
The Supreme Court
yesterday gave railroads greater protection against being
sued over allegedly inadequate warning devices at rail crossings,
the scenes of hundreds of fatal accidents each year.
The 7-2 decision
came as a shocking disappointment to Vicky Moore. The Canal
Fulton resident lost a son in a 1995 car-train crash in which
two others were killed and three were injured, including
a second son.
"I'm very upset
by this,"
an obviously shaken Moore said yesterday after learning of
the ruling and taking several phone calls concerning the decision. "This
is something we never thought would happen.
"We thought
the justices would take the time to understand what this
is all about. With this decision, the railroads now have
the right to kill people, as they have in the past and will
in the future, and not be held accountable or responsible
for what happens at those dangerous crossings."
A strong supporter
of Dedra Shanklin, whose case sparked the decision, Moore
added, "I don't think this is the end of this. I am
learning as the process goes on how laws are written and
the process involved.
"this is probably
the last straw for Dedra Shanklin, but I'm convinced there
will be more cases. Hopefully, the court will finally understand
what this is all about. They don't now, based on this ruling."
The justices, voting
in the Shanklin case from Tennessee, said railroads are not
financially liable if the equipment installed at a grade-level
crossing was federally funded. The two dissenters, Justices
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens, said the decision "defies
common sense and sound policy."
Congress has provided
states with more than $3 billion since 1975 to increase safety
at most of the nation's 170,000 public grade-level crossings.
During that time, the number of fatal accidents at crossings
has dropped from more than 1,500 per year to 431 in 1998.
"Nothing prevents
a state from revisiting the adequacy of devices installed
using federal funds,"
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the court. "States
are free to install more protective devices at such crossings
with their own funds or with additional (federal) funding.
"What states
cannot do-once they have installed federally funded devices
at a particular crossing-is hold the railroad responsible
for the adequacy of those devices," she said.
She was joined by
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia,
Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter, Clarence Thyomas and
Stephen G. Breyer.
The decision wiped
out a $430,765 legal victory Shanklin had won against Norfolk
Southern Railway Co. after the Oc. 3, 1993, death of her
husband, Eddie, whose car was struck by a train at a crossing
in Gibson County, Tenn.
The Clinton administration
and various rail safety groups had urged the court to rule
otherwise.
Steve Bryan, Canton's
traffic engineer and co-chairman of the Stark County Railroad
Safety Task Force, said he would withhold specific comment.
"I'd like to
get more information before making any comments," he
said late yesterday afternoon. "From what I see, I really
don't understand the full extent of what the impacts can
be. Hopefully, I'll know more about this by Wednesday night's
task force meeting.
The meeting reference
was to the already scheduled meeting of the rail task force
at 7 tomorrow night at the Stark Regional Planning Commission
offices, 201 Third St., N.E. in downtown Canton. The session
is open to anyone interested in railroad crossing safety,
Bryan said.
Moore and husband
Dennis Moore created the Angels on Track Foundation with
a $5.3 million settlement for the crash death of their 16-year-old
son, Ryan Moore, on March 25, 1995.
The Moores have
traveled the state and part of the country, emphasizing the
importance of upgrading grade-level crossings with flashing
lights and gates to protect motorists and passengers.
The foundation helps
to fund crossing upgrades, which usually cost $115,000 to
$150,000 each.
Ryan Moore, Alyson
Ley of Clinton and Joshua White of Canal Fulton were killed
in the crash at the Conrail crossing on Deerfield Avenue
at the Stark-Wayne county line.
The crossing is
at the base of a steep hill with trees sharply reducing the
sight lines. The driver stopped, then started across the
unprotected crossing because he didn't see the approaching
train, estimated to have been traveling at 60 mph with three
engines and 33 empty cars.
The crossing since
has been upgraded with flashers and gates, as have several
others in the region.
Ken Groves of the
Canton traffic engineer's office, said one crossing on Price
Street in Lexington Township's Limaville is to be upgraded
this year with federal funds allocated through the Public
Utilities Commission of Ohio.
An estimated 80
crossings a year across Ohio are upgraded with federal funding
involved, according to a report earlier this year.
Norfolk Southern
Railway spokesman Frank Brown called the decision "a
good one" that "heads off second-guessing about
the adequacy of warning devices after they've been installed
with federal money."
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