Transit Crashes: NTSB Announces Safety Recommendations for CTA

 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Bus Accident Injury

In late April, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its report on the Blue Line crash at Chicago’s O’Hare station last year.  The Board found that the decades-old Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) safety system that can trigger a train’s brakes should be completely replaced by new technology that allows a train to detect potential danger much earlier in the case of an emergency.

The March 2014 crash has been attributed to driver fatigue, but ultimately fault lies with the CTA for failing to properly oversee employee work schedules. The crash was not fatal, but resulted in injuries for 33 of the approximately 50 passengers on board, and caused more than $11 million in damage. The Board’s report, however, is non-binding, and CTA officials have yet to announce that they will take the Board’s recommendation and install the new technological safety measures. The cost is yet unknown, though the price tag to install such a new system is likely high.

The 33 injured parties in this accident would have the right to sue the CTA, based on precedent. In 2013, a $50,000 lawsuit was filed against the CTA after a collision that injured dozens of passengers aboard a CTA train. In this incident, an out-of-service train mysteriously left the yard where it was allegedly parked. The unmanned train traveled the wrong way on the tracks and collided with another in-service train. This accident was also on the Blue Line, leading some advocates to suggest that the line does in fact need a complete safety overhaul. Failure on the CTA’s part to do so could result in more costly lawsuits such as the one filed after the 2013 incident.

If you are considering suing the Authority due to an accident in which you were involved while a passenger, it is best not to contact the CTA directly. The statute of limitations to file a claim against the CTA is one year. If you wait longer than a year to file, your claim will likely not be heard in court.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a CTA accident, you may be eligible for compensation. Do not go through it alone. Contact an experienced Lake County accident attorney today.