3 Killed as 2 L.I.R.R. Trains Crash Into Car in Westbury

I'd think that people would learn that going around lowered RR crossing gates is tantamount to suicide. I remember public-service ads showing a car racing a train to a crossing, hoping to cross before the train got there, with a caption: "If it's a tie, you lose!"

From a more recent article, published in the Times today: "Officials said witnesses had indicated that the vehicle had been in an accident and was apparently fleeing the scene of that incident when it made its way onto the tracks." I don't know that this requires any type of investigation.

This was not a "tragedy" and instead of an outpouring of sympathy for those in the car, some sense of outrage should be expressed. Arrogance, selfishness and stupidity on the part of the driver resulted in 3 deaths, several injuries, and most likely property damage in excess on one million dollars. This was not an accident. It was a premeditated act by the operator of the motor vehicle. Only fortunate thing arising out of the event that there were no fatalities on the train, like the Metro North incident, and one was hurt standing on the platform.

This article, and the follow up article, is both misleading and unfair of the NYT. Train crossings have signs, flashing lights, arms, painted stripes, bells, and train horns. We can put a dozen preventative measures in place, but there’s little or no defense if people choose to circumvent them. I have sympathy for the families of the three people in the car, I can’t imagine how horrible this must be. I think the NYT, and the rest of us who ride the trains in the metro area should recognize that this could have been so much worse, and be thankful that it wasn’t, and grateful to the people who operate the trains everyday. Something obviously did work, and worked well.

The article needs clarification and an update. It's now pretty clear that the vehicle that was struck by the trains went around the closed crossing gates and ignored the flashing red warning lights. It is now also reported that the vehicle was in the process of fleeing the scene in an accident, which would explain the driver's willingness to ignore the warning sign and risk his and his passenger's lives. How could that kind of extremely risky behavior been avoided by a " safer railroad crossing"? The victims here are, in order of severity, the two passengers in the vehicle who were killed along with the reckless driver, and then the drivers of the two trains and any passengers who were traumatized by this incident. Unless new facts come to light, the sole person responsible for this deadly crash is the driver of the vehicle. If the Governor and elected officials want to increase safety at railroad crossings, by all means approve the funds for better gates and signals. But, in the meantime, traffic cameras at rail road crossings along with more severe penalties for illegal crossing or not stopping at warning signs would also be in order.

Some of the article suggests that the LIRR is somehow/partially at fault.Railroad crossings are clearly marked,and it’s sad that someone thought that waiting was less important than gambling with their life.Human error/impatience was to blame in this tragic deliberate accident,not the LIRR.

I wonder if the driver (he or she) had a heart attack or was drunk or just bent on destruction. Trains don't jump tracks.

I'm surprised that grandstanding Prince Andrew, in calling for a complete investigation of the accident, in all accounts that I have read, failed to mention NYS DOT's Public Transportation Safety Board (PTSB). I used to investigate rail accidents for NYCTA, and worked with PTSB whenever an accident met their criteria. Maybe he forgot. Anyway, the accident would have been investigated thoroughly without him yawping about it.

"As we continue to gather information surrounding the incident, my heart goes out to the victims and their loved ones,” Mr. Cuomo said." "Victims"? what victims? in today's society, every time something bad happens, it's because someone is a "victim". there is no victim here. theres just a moron driver.

For the love of Christ, why are there not four-quadrant gates at every crossing? It would discourage such deadly stupidity.

I am not clear as to why the NYT opened comments for this article. Whatever you think of the wisdom of crossing the gates, three families lost a beloved member. We should keep that in mind.

Inasmuch as the railroad runs on an elevated embankment between Baldwin and Freeport, why describe the train as having struck a “pedestrian”? A trespasser would be more like it.

Interesting use of the word "victims" by Governor Cuomo. So many victims: the two vehicle passengers (unless they were egging the driver on); the injured train passengers; the train engineers; the conductors and brakemen, all the other passengers on the train; all the bystanders; and all the other passengers whose efforts to get to work, home or otherwise went amok for the remainder of the day and the next several days. But, to be perfectly clear, the driver of the vehicle was not a victim.

A completely avoidable tragedy. By deciding to go around the gates, the driver endangered not only him/herself but everyone on board the trains. I learned to drive in a town criss-crossed by railroad tracks, and lesson number one was NEVER GO AROUND THE GATES. Lesson two was always make sure you can clear the tracks completely after you cross.

Stupidity is nature's only capital offense. It is, however, a shame that the driver's imbecility took the lives of his passengers, injured rail passengers, and damaged both the trains and the track. I have to wonder if the railroad would have a valid claim against the driver's estate for the damages.

The crossing gates are there for a reason - to warn motorists of an oncoming train because when a train/motor vehicle collision occurs the train will win (size does matter). Sadly, this case was an exercise in stupidly that cost three people their lives, injured some others and inconvenienced many more. Was trying to save a moment or two worth it? Sometimes you just can't save people from themselves.

It's interesting how even the media seem to try and shift some of the responsibility for events like this from the operator of the vehicle. Even phrases like "a car that had swerved..." seem to be blaming the car. The cause of this was not a car, or a gate, or the political position of railroads, or insufficient spending on modernization. The cause of this disaster was the selfish and ridiculously foolish choice of the driver to go around a gate onto the tracks. Period.

The infrastructure of this country is desperately in need of upgrade and repair. Barriers to prevent cars from crossing when rail road gates are lowered are probably needed. The generation raised on video games has less respect for caution and consequences than is safe when they drive. This is horribly sad and unfortunate.

Suicide by train is a mean thing to do for the train engineers, conductors, et. al., the passengers, and any other victims in the vehicle placed in the train path. Despite best efforts to avoid vehicle/train collisions, when these accidents happen it is always the driver who has been at fault, going around protections and ignoring crossing warnings.

It is extremely difficult to have sympathy for any driver who chooses to ignore the safety gates at a level crossing. It is hard not to sympathize with his or her passengers, and those on the train. The ultimate culprit is lack of driver training. Criticising trains and their nature is absurd. Suggesting that trains stop at every road is absurd. The infrastructure of greater New York is outdated. The trains are outdated. The lack of proper parking to allow drivers comfort in using the train instead of cars is annoying. However, in a case such as this no one is to blame except the car driver.

What the driver of the car did was like running a red light with a Mack truck coming down the road after the light for the truck had turned green: stupid and suicidal. What is so difficult to understand about a red light, a stop sign, or a gate that comes down. All of them mean the same thing: stop at the line. I feel horrible for the passengers and MTA employees of the car and the trains. The things that drivers do to get somewhere quickly are not, as this horrible tragedy demonstrates, harmless. Running red lights, driving through stop signs or around lowered gates at railway crossings can cost lives. The 5 seconds that are saved are not balanced out when this happens.

If we had better infrastructure so that there were no trains crossing roads, this wouldn’t have happened. But I must point out that whoever drove this car into harm’s way (into the path of not one, but two oncoming trains!) caused their own death, the deaths of their passengers, and mayhem for hundreds of people— all to save a few minutes?

Just another vestige of the 19th century when the rail road robber barons paid off the state legislature to get the right of ways. Trains need to stop at all crossing like anyone else. Let the rail road build overpasses if they don't want to stop.

This is such a sad story. This should not be happening in the US in the 21st Century. How is it that we don’t have first world train service in the country anymore? Especially commuter service in and out of major cities. Just compare NYC with London, Paris, Berlin, even Milan, don’t know about Tokyo, which all have rapid, safe, clean, regional trains that connect with city metro systems. There are no above ground rail crossings. Over or underpasses for auto traffic. A man was dragged to death on subway platform recently. Last year derailments with Metro-North. The mass transit system is not where it should be for our community. It often seems like in our “me first” culture, there’s no political leader with the bigger vision of what’s good for us as a society. If there is, people aren’t convinced to put tax dollars towards infrastructure. It seems we have the funds but not the will to prevent these kind of tragedies from continuing. LIRR, MTA, Metro-North, NJTransit, Port Authority, Tri-State and Federal governments, shame on you.

" . . a car that had swerved around lowered gates . . " What would it take to make the gates sufficiently long, extending over the entire road, so that this is impossible?