Driver Who Hit Train Blames City of Torrance for Lack of Warnings

If the city of Torrance had installed warning lights or gates at a railroad crossing in the downtown area, Eda Miller says, she never would have driven her car into a train.

The 58-year-old Los Angeles resident strained her back and broke several ribs when she drove her car into an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway train Dec. 12 on Alaska Avenue.

Last week, Miller filed a claim with the city, blaming it for her injuries and the damage to her car. She has not determined how much she wants in damages, she said.

Lynn Shall, the city’s risk management technician, said she could not comment until the traffic department finishes its investigation. City Manager LeRoy Jackson said the state Public Utilities Commission is responsible for installing warning lights at railroad crossings.

Miller, a quality assurance inspector for a mechanical parts manufacturer in the area, said she was on her way to a meeting about noon when she approached the railroad tracks on Alaska near Maricopa Street. Miller said the street was busy, and she was watching for cars pulling out in front of her.

“I just plain didn’t hear it or see it,” she said. “The next thing I knew, the train was in front of me.”

Miller said she was going 20 to 25 m.p.h. when she hit the slow-moving train, which was on a spur serving the industrial area. Her car was pushed to the opposite side of the street, nearly 20 feet from the point of impact.

“It scared the daylights out of me,” she said.

Miller said that her car was wrecked beyond repair and that her injuries have kept her from returning to work since the accident. She said she expects to go back next week.

She was cited for failure to yield the right of way, she said.

Denise Cohen, a paralegal for Miller’s attorney, said Miller will probably ask the city to pay for her medical bills, the damage to her car and lost wages.

Cohen said Miller is also seeking unspecified damages from the railroad, alleging that the train operator failed to blow a whistle or give any other signal as it approached the intersection.

Santa Fe officials said federal law requires all train operators to sound a whistle when crossing a roadway, but would not comment further.

A security officer who said he was working at a nearby plant at the time of the accident disagreed, saying the train was blowing its whistle and ringing a bell as it crossed the intersection.

The security officer, who would not give his name, said he did not see the collision but was less than 20 feet away when it occurred.

“The train was blowin’ its horn and ringing the bell and everything,” he said. “I heard the horn and bells, and then I heard this big bang.”

Sgt. Steve Ross of the Police Department’s traffic department said accidents involving trains and automobiles occur “very, very seldom” in Torrance. “The last one I heard about was about 10 years ago.”