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Railroad crossing proves deadly for risk taker

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Posted 2 months ago

 

RIO VISTA -- This past weekend a teenage girl was killed when her car was hit by an Amtrak train. People in Rio Vista, in Johnson County, 




BNSF told News 8 Monday afternoon that the signals at the intersection were working properly at the time of the accident. The young teen simply, and fatally, made the decision to go around them. It’s a thing that local townspeople admit to doing, trying to save time by breaking the law. It is hoped out of this loss these signals will become more reliableAmtrak’s Texas eagle flies through Johnson County just after 1 o’clock every afternoon, going 79 m.p.h. At Rio Vista railroad crossing arms are supposed to stop cars at 3 intersections. Kaitlen Baker, 15-years-old, did not stop Sunday afternoon.

 


 





Kaitlen died instantly when the train carrying 63 passengers hit her SUV. “I feel bad about the whole situation,” said Tammy Reeves, a witness to the accident. That’s because Tammy Reeves also went around the barrier, 30 seconds earlier. “She’s seeing other people cross, adults. I guess she might have thought that it was safe. They did it, so she could,” said Reeves.


Texas Department of Transportation answers complaint calls at 1-800-772-7677, referring them to the railroad. BNSF tells News 8 that investigators are once again looking into recently reported malfunctions at the crossing.


Police say they will be watching, and writing tickets, for breaking the law and going around the barrier. “Even if it’s broken, the only way you can go around is if there’s a police officer or a train official directing traffic at that intersection,” said Chief Steve Johnson, Rio Vista police.


Monday, everyone stopped and remembered Kaitlen. “It’s kind of ironic that the sound that I should have heard, I didn’t hear, and now that I hear it, it bothers me,” said Reeves.


Reeves said that she did not hear Amtrak sounding a siren as it came through Sunday. The railroad is saying that the black box, the so-called incident recorder, will confirm that as the investigation continues.


Kaitlen’s friends, who adored her, toke up a collection Monday at Rio Vista High School to pay for her funeral.

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