Placing the Blame on the Victim All Too Common

A husband and father of three are counseling others not to automatically assume the injuries suffered by his wife and child in a train accident were the result of poor decision-making. The accident occurred on October 22nd, 2017, in Clayton County, Georgia. The mother and her children were taking a shortcut across train tracks to shave a few minutes off their afternoon commute.

The mother and her children could see a train when they started to cross the tracks, but the train was at a stop. Reasonably assuming that the train would remain stopped unless it indicated otherwise with some sort of signal, the family began to cross. Two of the children made it safely across, but the mother and the youngest, still a baby, were struck when the train unexpectedly began to move.

It is easy to try to blame the mother for the accident, but the father of three asked posed questions about signage or protective barriers after his infant was released from the hospital. By all indications, the tracks are not signed or fenced, and the conductor did not signal that he was going to start the train back up.

In the rush to place blame whenever an accident occurs, it is all too easy for people who were not there to blame the victim. But all too often there are extenuating circumstances that explain why things were done the way they were. Blaming the victim is rarely called for.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of a train accident, it is important to understand whether or not reasonable safety precautions were taken by the operator of the train. It is reasonable to expect safety barriers to be in place in particularly dangerous locations. If you are unsure whether proper steps were taken, please have an experienced attorney evaluate your case.