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May 12, 2008 5:37 pm US/Central
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Some Blame Faulty Railroad Arms For Teen's Death
Seema Mathur
RIO VISTA (CBS 11 News) ―
The small community of Rio Vista is mourning the death of a teenager who was killed when a train collided with her SUV Sunday. The accident happened on Highway 174, also known as Cleburne/ Whitney Road, at FM 916 in Rio Vista.
Some in the community are wondering if the accident could have been avoided.
Residents say the railroad arms had a reputation of alarming and going down when there was no train coming. Those false alarms have affected their driving habits.
"Even though the law says you don't disregard the railroad device, people are going to because they've seen them go down several times with nothing coming," said Steve Johnson, Rio Vista Chief of Police.
Going through the railroad arms is what police say 15-year-old Katelen Baker did Sunday afternoon. But a train was coming and it hit the SUV she was driving.
"I was up all night checking her room, waiting for her to pull in the driveway," said Cassie Baker, Katelen's mom. "I wanted to go wake her up for school this morning."
All her family can do now is pull out photos to remember her. "She was a big baby," said Tommy Bobbitt, Katelen's grandfather.
Bobbitt said she grew up to be a tom boy who loved playing football and hunting.
She was also protective of her 10-year-old twin brothers. "We called her the little mama of the family," said Cassie Baker.
Katelen had recently received her hardship driver's license. She was on her way to the store Sunday when the accident happened.
"Lot of times they will stay put, and there's not a train around," said Rio Vista resident Vikki Raincrow. "Everyone knows when they are down - and you see a train parked here - everyone knows just to go around because there's a problem."
"We've reported them on numerous occasions. I believe at least twice in the last couple of weeks," said Chief Johnson.
In a statement, the railroad company said they are examining reports about the warning devices and that the equipment was functioning properly at the time of the accident.
"We can confirm, however, that at the time of yesterday's incident the equipment was operating and functioning properly," the statement read.
Rio Vista police say the railroad company is quick to come out and fix the arms but the problem is reoccurring for year.
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