Railroad Collisions, A Deadly Story of Mismanaged Risk, by George Swimmer
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Railroad Collisions, A Deadly Story of Mismanaged Risk, by George Swimmer
Best PDF Ebook Railroad Collisions, A Deadly Story of Mismanaged Risk, by George Swimmer
Citizen-advocate George Swimmer spent twenty years investigating the causes behind railroad collisions. What he discovered is a tangled mess of both inadvertent and intentional mismanagement.
In Railroad Collisions, Swimmer reveals his findings. He faults the railroads themselves for poor risk management, but the industry is by no means the only culpable party. The Federal Railroad Administration’s timid dealings with railroad companies impairs meaningful changes, while the National Transportation Safety Board’s findings in many of their accident investigations are woefully, fatally incorrect.
From commuter train collisions to engineer fatigue and a nationwide epidemic of incorrectly set safety crossing lights, Swimmer paints a picture of an industry willing to put complacency ahead of safety, often actively working against positive change.
Swimmer supports his arguments with concrete examples. His interviews with locomotive engineers and a former safety director are thought-provoking and hard-hitting, while discussions with the parents of children killed in preventable railroad accidents provide a compassionate glimpse into the human cost of mismanaged risk.
Doing for railway transportation what Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed did for the automobile industry, Railroad Collisions is a sobering look at how mismanagement and misinformation endangers lives throughout America’s sprawling rail system.
Railroad Collisions, A Deadly Story of Mismanaged Risk, by George Swimmer- Amazon Sales Rank: #529863 in Books
- Published on: 2015-11-25
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .59" w x 6.00" l, .77 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 258 pages
About the Author
George Swimmer is a certified public accountant who received his bachelor of science degree from Northern Illinois University. A registered investment advisor, Swimmer holds various insurance licenses and is a certified nurse’s assistant.
An outspoken citizen advocate who spent over twenty years investigating train accidents and arguing for improved railroad safety, Swimmer is a recipient of the Citizen Advocacy Center’s Citizen Initiative Award, the Lions Clubs International Foundation’s Melvin Jones Fellow Award, and the DuPage Railroad Safety Council’s Jonathan Goers Award.
A former member of the Illinois Task Force on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), Swimmer also served as a member of the Marine Corps Active Reserves.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Compelling investigation of the railroads and our safety. By Amazon Customer The book is a great read, as both the story of a man's life's passion and the story of how so much more could be done to prevent loss of life near railroad crossings. The culprits are what they could be expected to be: negligence, apathy, corruption, and 'the bottom line'.As much as this is the story of what has gone wrong, it is also the story of what could be corrected. Solutions are proposed for the common problems faced by railroads and the people who live and work around them.Ultimately, it is up to us, the readers, to do with this information as we will. Let us remember that the victims of rail collisions are real people - the book contains stories of just few of the many - and that it is our duty as citizens to follow the example set by Mr. Swimmer. We must do what we can, for one, and for all.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. DIARY OF A RAIL SAFETY ACTIVIST By Paul Froehlich For two decades, George Swimmer has been an activist arguing for safer railroad practices and policies. This book explains the crusades he has been fighting, presenting his arguments in detail by analyzing of dozens of crashes. If he was ever wrong during those twenty years, however, he never admits it here.Full disclosure: The author of this book and I served together for many years on the DuPage Railroad Safety Council. I did not always agree with him, though after reading his book, I realize he was right more often than I had thought at the time. I nevertheless came to respect his diligence in doing research and his passionate commitment to railroad safety.One of his goals early on was to improve lighting on locomotives and cab cars. He learned about the high fixed light on locomotives along with two ditch lights that form a unique triangular lighting pattern. Such lighting makes trains more readily recognizable, distinguishing their lights from other lights, and trains using their ditch lights were involved in fewer accidents than those that didn’t. Under FRA regulations, trains were not required to use the enhanced triangular lighting until the end of 1997.Swimmer describes his fight starting in 1994 to get the lights turned on 24-hours a day right away, instead of waiting for the legal deadline. Swimmer personally lobbied the railroad CEOs to flip the on switch immediately instead of waiting until they were forced to do it, and they responded in 1996. Crashes have declined since, and locomotive conspicuity is recognized as one of the reasons. “It took the flip of a switch – something that could have taken place may years before 1996.”Another safety issue that has not yet been solved is the deadly second train at a station. The risks at train stations have long been recognized from a second train passing while the first train is stopped or starting to depart. Pedestrians and motorists often can’t see the second train coming, with fatal results.Metra, the Chicago area commuter train agency, operates on eleven rail lines. Ten of them have rules restricting second trains from entering a crossing, while the eleventh line, operated by BNSF, does not. One of its more dangerous crossings is at Fairview Ave. in Downers Grove, Illinois. In the early 1990s, two pedestrians in two years were killed as they crossed in front of the stopped commuter train and were hit by the second train they could not see. These deaths were “predictable,” Swimmer writes.More than two decades later, mostly the same risk factors exist at that crossing; second trains at high speeds are still permitted to pass commuter trains stopped at the station. Swimmer has regularly lobbied BNSF officials to change their dangerous rule, and has spoken publicly about the second train menace. BNSF has been unmoved, and there is no federal rule to prevent the practice.The chapter on the Fox River Grove school bus tragedy in 1995, provides new insights. Swimmer contends that the NTSB investigation missed several significant factors contributing to the collision:1) The cab car on the Metra train did not have the triangular lighting pattern that makes trains more visible and identifiable. The bus driver testified she had not seen the train coming before crossing the tracks.2) The absence of a two-person crew operating the train, even though the value of such redundancy is well understood in transportation safety.3) The likely fatigue of the train engineer who worked long split shifts following an 80-minute commute to work.4) The fact the crossing was in a quiet zone, which the FRA concluded earlier the same year result in 84 percent more crashes at grade crossings than where train whistles are not banned.Because NTSB findings and recommendations have substantial influence on the transportation industry, the omission of key factors means those issues are unlikely to be corrected.Swimmer has long contended that railroads should be required to install and maintain fencing along known “hot spots” where trespassers frequently cross tracks. A reason railroads resist installing fences is because they face higher civil liability if an injury or death occurs when a trespasser enters through a cut fence that has not been repaired. Perhaps the response should be to change civil law to hold railroads harmless in such situations, particularly when the breach in the fence is recent or was caused by the deceased trespasser.Like most activists, Swimmer expresses frustration with “timid” regulators and with the slow pace of change in implementing proven safety measures. While such frustration is understandable, under our system of government, negotiation and compromise are indispensable. Government regulators are patient with the industry they regulate, but slow reform is what our political system allows.The Chicago area has the most dense railroad network in the country, with more than 2,200 at grade crossings in the region. One chapter in the book is devoted to the Chicago-area rail safety group -- the DuPage Railroad Safety Council -- which is one of the most active grassroots organizations of its type in the country. Under the dedicated and gentle leadership of Dr. Lanny Wilson since 1994, the Council has worked effectively for more enforcement, more education, and better design. While I and some other members saw ourselves as allies of the railroad industry, Swimmer recognized far earlier than I did that at least parts of that industry did not always put public safety as its highest priority. Consequently, he was more critical of industry practices that can “defy common sense.”An accountant by profession, Swimmer has an eye for detail, which is reflected in his book. The clear style of writing makes the book easy to read, while the strong opinions of the author make it interesting. Despite the writing clarity, however, the book gets a bit too technical at times for the layman in describing the intricacies of warning signals and regulations. He retells the crash stories in a compelling manner, particularly the school bus tragedy in Fox River Grove, and he makes a strong case for the safety measures he advocates. ###
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. This book was so informative - I felt both enlightened ... By InformedConsumer This book was so informative - I felt both enlightened to and angered by the details of railroad collisions. I'm the daughter of a retired brakeman/conductor, so I was raised to respect trains, crossings, right-of-way, etc. Until reading this, I didn't understand the bureaucracy and how frustrating it can be to implement safety measures! Kudos to George Swimmer for his passion and efforts for reform!
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