Family calls for changes after fatal RR crash in Oregon
Joseph Sato and Brian Vann were coming home from a fishing trip near Cascade Locks, Oregon on May 24 when they approached a private railroad crossing. Sato, the driver, looked right and moved gingerly up a steep, gravelly incline to peer over some bushes on the left side of the tracks. But from the right came a Union Pacific train at 55 miles per hour, injuring Sato and killing Vann instantly. Although the whistle had blown, the two men never heard it because the sound was muted.
Vann’s family members are seeking safety changes at the train crossing. A single sign is posted, but no flashing lights, safety arms or bells are there to warn motorists of an approaching locomotive. The crossing is steeper and narrower than UP’s regulations allow, and the train did not slow as it approached a known hazardous crossing.
Regulatory enforcement of the contracts that determine responsibility at private railroad crossings would force the industry to maintain its equipment and prevent such injuries and deaths. UP eventually settled with Vann’s family (his widow and two daughters) but did nothing to improve the safety of the rail crossing. A constant sound and flashing lights might have forestalled such a tragedy or others yet to occur.
Vann’s mother-in-law, Vicky Dean-Swart, is pushing for a warning system. She says her feelings of hope for change combine with sorrow over what happened to Vann. There were 27 vehicle-train crashes and one fatality at railroad crossings in Oregon in 2002—down from 34 collisions and seven deaths in 2001.