A railroad will be found liable for grade crossing injuries or fatalities occurring at extra-hazardous crossings. A crossing is extra-hazardous where unusual circumstances or conditions exist that make it so peculiarly dangerous that prudent persons cannot use it with safety unless extraordinary measures are used. Criteria used to determine whether such circumstances exist include the similarity in appearance between this crossing and abandoned crossings on the same street, the infrequency of a crossing's use, a limited view of an approaching train, and the lack of warning precautions installed by either the railroad or the municipality responsible for the safety of the street or highway where the crossing is located. The Washington courts have held that a railroad crossing is a proclamation of danger, and that those who propose to enter its zone must govern themselves accordingly. This responsibility of the traveler approaching a railroad crossing is to look and listen, and to do so at a point or from a position where it would be effective.
It is also important to note in a grade crossing collision that governmental entities are held to the same negligence standards as private individuals, and that liability for negligence does not require a direct statutory violation, though a statute, regulation, or other positive enactment may help define the scope of a duty or the standard of care. A local or state government has a duty to provide reasonably safe roads and this duty includes the duty to safeguard against an inherently dangerous misleading condition. A city's duty to eliminate an inherently dangerous or misleading condition is part of the overarching duty to provide reasonably safe roads for the people of this state to drive upon.
The attorneys at Kraft Palmer Davies PLLC have for many years successfully brought claims on behalf of travelers and their survivors arising out of both train collisions involving both vehicles and pedestrians attempting to cross the track. As the consequences of such a collision are often devastating, if not fatal, it is essential that a victim of a collision occurring at an extra-hazardous crossing, or as a result of a train being operated in an unsafe manner, find counsel who are experienced suing railroads and municipalities, familiar with the law as it applies to such collisions, and who know how to conduct appropriate discovery in such a case.
