On Tuesday, January 18, 2011, at around 8:00 p.m., a man was killed after being struck by a Metrolink train in Sylmar, California. It is unknown why the man, who was 19 years old, was hit by the train. The Los Angeles train accident happened near where Pierce Street intersects with San Fernando Road, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
According to the Los Angeles Times, who analyzed data from 1993 to September of 2008, three Metrolink accidents, apparently none involving injures or deaths, occurred at that intersection. Interestingly, one block north of where this train v. pedestrian accident happened, where the trains cross Van Nuys Boulevard, there have been eight accidents which have resulted in five deaths and one injury, during the same time period.
Unless the cause of the train accident in Los Angeles was a suicide attempt by the pedestrian killed in the accident, the family of the victim should hire a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer to investigate the cause of the accident and whether there was any fault attributable to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Recent cases have shown that there have been train collisions and accidents where train drivers have been not paying attention at the time of the accident, including where drivers have been texting or not looking for pedestrians in certain areas. If there are any videos available, those will need to be obtained by the Sylmar personal injury attorney and examined by experts and accident reconstructionists.
Train accident cases can be very difficult, but with the right experts and representation, the true cause of the accident should be discovered and the responsible parties should be held accountable.