An investigation released this week, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada reiterates the need to improve safety at railway crossings designated for persons using assistive devices.
On 26 May 2018, a CN freight train travelling through Chilliwack, British Columbia, struck and killed a pedestrian in a motorized wheelchair. The pedestrian’s wheelchair had become immobilized on the crossing. Two motorists, stopped at the crossing, to assist the man before the collision, and one was also struck by the train and seriously hurt.
The investigation determined that the motorized wheelchair became immobilized when the pedestrian, stopped with the rear wheels on the south rail, then moved the motorized wheelchair in the opposite direction. As a result, both rear caster wheels likely rotated and fell into the 103 mm gap at the crossing, known as a flangeway, between the sidewalk and the rail.
The investigation also found that impending changes , that will come into effect in 2021 to designated crossings, as required by Transport Canada’s (TC) Grade Crossings Standards, would reduce the maximum flangeway width to 75 mm.
This reduction, however, would be insufficient to ensure that caster wheels of 50 mm, such as those involved in this accident, do not become lodged in the flangeway.
The results of the investigation also made reference to a similar incident in Moncton in 2016. 29 year old Stephen Harel was also struck and killed when his wheelchair became stuck at the Robinson Street crossing.
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