California Personal Injury Lawyers Blog
A Metrolink train accident in Oxnard this morning has caused many serious injuries to the occupants of the train, including the conductor. The accident apparently occurred after a produce or farm equipment truck got stuck on the railway and was struck by the commuter train. The Metrolink accident occurred near the intersection of East 5th Street and South Rice Avenue in Oxnard, Ventura County, California.
According to the Ventura County Star, after the train accident, authorities were able to locate the driver of the truck between one and two miles from the location of the train crash. The driver was not placed under arrest, but was taken in for questioning. Fortunately, it appears that the train was equipped with new safety “crash energy management” system that may have prevented much more serious injuries or deaths from this crash.
As of now, it appears that the driver of the truck turned onto the tracks, while pulling a trailer, and became stuck on the tracks. By the time the train engineer applied the brakes, it was too late as the heavy train, which was traveling approximately 79 miles per hour, according to the Los Angeles Times, needed more time to stop.
The Metrolink train was traveling to downtown Los Angeles and had five cars with 51 total passengers. 28 passengers were reportedly taken to the hospital right after the incident.
From a personal injury law standpoint, there are many important factors that go into a situation like this. First, in our office, the main concern is making sure our clients receive the right medical care so that they can get better physically. The next concern is that there is a source for a financial recovery for our clients. In this situation, it will have to be evaluated whether the truck was the sole cause of this accident, or if Metrolink did anything that contributed to the crash. If the truck driver was the sole cause of the accident, then the claim will be made against his insurance company. Because the truck appears to be a work truck, we would anticipate that there would be a commercial policy for the truck. However, with the amount of injuries involved, the insurance may not be enough to cover everyone who was injured.
Anyone who suffered an injury in this crash should call our personal injury train accident lawyers right away for a free consultation and click on our train accident damages page for more information. 1-866-INJURY-2