Passenger Trains > Mother Plans To Sue Amtrak After Daughter ...

Falls Between Train And Platform At 30th Street Station

excerpt from story here:

She was told Amtrak personnel would be at the doors, but Stephanie says no one was there, and when she went to get off the train, another passenger offered to help her daughter.

“He reaches out to grab her hand, she went for it and then got nervous with the gap, and she went right down. Everything happened very quickly.”

She immediately jumped down after Shelby.

full story here:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/10/04/mother-plans-to-sue-amtrak-after-daughter-falls-between-train-and-platform-at-30th-street-station/

Part of the cost of doing business...her Philadelphia lawyer isn't going to
have to travel very far.

"You can't fix stupid"

This station and platforms have been used for, what, the last 80 years, and there hasn't been this problem before.

She gets nervous when she sees the gap and drops her child? Seems perfectly normal to me...............

Amtrak wasn't the only participant in this tragedy that was responsible - sounds like what's called contributory negligence. Someone has to assume primary responsibility for the child, and in my family that's always been the parents. Sad situation but the first thing this generation does when something goes wrong is to find someone else to blame - and to sue...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

pdt Wrote:
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> "You can't fix stupid"
>
> This station and platforms have been used for,
> what, the last 80 years, and there hasn't been
> this problem before.
>
> She gets nervous when she sees the gap and drops
> her child? Seems perfectly normal to
> me...............

not the first time ... read here:

http://benjacobjourno.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/girl-falls-between-tracks-at-philadelphias-30th-street-train-station-in-early-morning/

Oh brother, you knew the little girl was scared, and you pursued to make sure she made it, plus your hands are way beyond full? Come on!

AND the crew gives a warning at each station about the gap between the train and the platforms. I thought it was unnecessary (as was the warning about being "extremely" slippery" even though the rain had stopped and the platforms were dry. Guess I was wrong about the unnecessary part. In Europe (other than on the London Underground), no such warnings are given. People there actually take personal responsibility.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> In Europe
> (other than on the London Underground), no such
> warnings are given. People there actually take
> personal responsibility.

"Mind the Gap"! They even have T-Shirts proclaiming such! :)

Sounds like the real gap is between the mother's ears

It's quite unbelieveable that we have become a country where if you fall down, you can sue whoever owns the property where you fall down.
This applies to residences as well. I fell at a relatives home a while back and it required a brief hospital visit. After my insurance company paid for the bill, they began questioning me as a way to go after the homeowners insurance company. It is not just individuals that are taking this route, it is the insurance companies themselves.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> In Europe
> (other than on the London Underground), no such
> warnings are given. People there actually take
> personal responsibility.

The Paris Metro, on certain lines and at certain stations, also gives the "Mind the gap" warnings over the P.A. in multilple languages. I was there last month and heard them for myself.

Christopher Trentham
MP 5.7 on the PHL San Pedro Sub.

How wide is the gap?

lynngrove Wrote:
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> How wide is the gap?

Roughly six inches, from one ear to the other.

That's got to be a pretty big gap for a child to fall in, let alone an adult to jump in to help as the article says. Doesn't sound right....

Dave

People falling in the gap happens at all the stations. The LIRR had the the most famous one at Woodlawn where a girl got down, ran
under the platform, and was hit by an express train passing on the otherside. More often they fall between the cars, which is why the comutter agencies are putting the subway gates between the cars. People just don't pay attention, and cell phones have made it worse.

Think I remember reading of all major industrialized nations we are last
in educating engineers and scientists and first in turning out lawyers;
more seeds of our own self-destruction.

masterphots Wrote:
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> Sounds like the real gap is between the mother's
> ears

Have you ever tried to move several suitacases and a child from the train to a platform? It is damn hard. If you don't have any help from the train crew it's damn near impossible. They're supposed to be supportive. That's what they're there for.

ProRail Wrote:
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> masterphots Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sounds like the real gap is between the
> mother's
> > ears
>
> Have you ever tried to move several suitacases and
> a child from the train to a platform? It is damn
> hard. If you don't have any help from the train
> crew it's damn near impossible. They're supposed
> to be supportive. That's what they're there for.

Ask yourself just for a minute...what's more important, the safety and well being of your child, or the suitcases. Which can be replaced, and which can't? I seriously question the wisdom of this parent, and now she wants someone else to pay for her bad choice. That is what makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

How many people have safely gotten on and off trains using those platforms--must be approaching a 100 years?
Many millions and millions. This shouldn't be newsworthey but some idiot judge on a power trip (remember they
used to be laweys) will make Amtrak fix it.

jbaker Wrote:
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> How many people have safely gotten on and off
> trains using those platforms--must be approaching
> a 100 years?
> Many millions and millions. This shouldn't be
> newsworthey but some idiot judge on a power trip
> (remember they
> used to be laweys) will make Amtrak fix it.


How?? :-/