Family Members Promote Change After Deadly Crossing Accident
Sunday was the two-year anniversary of the crossing accident involving a stolen SUV full of kids that hit a train stopped on Archer Road in east Harris County near Baytown, Texas. Four teenagers died in the crash and family members of some of the victims are pushing for changes that could save others.
Some things at the intersection have already changed. A new crossing arm has replaced the old sign that was there, and better lighting has been installed.
It was a dark summer morning when the SUV packed with kids smashed into a Union Pacific train parked at the crossing. Loral and Macy Moyers were just two of four teens killed in that wreck. Their grandfather, Donald Moyers, is on a mission to promote train safety. “Any movement that I may start is not to hurt the railroad companies, but to help them,” Moyers said. Moyers would like to make trains more visible at night, proposing replacing current yellow markings on railcars with red ones signifying what he believes would be a clearer stop. “It should be horizontal,” he said. “It should be the length of every single car on both sides.”
Moyers also wants railroad companies to require these markings before any railcar is allowed on the tracks. It’s a goal he hopes prevents other people from experiencing his same kind of pain.
Union Pacific said the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sets guidelines for the markings and that each car meets those guidelines. They also say their thoughts and prayers are with the families of those four teens.
The driver, Bobby Davis, is serving eight years in prison for the crash. He pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter and is presently serving his time in a juvenile facility. When he becomes an adult, he will either be sent to prison or released on parole.