ORS 811.365 – Illegal U-turn - OregonLaws - Public.Law - u turn allowed sign

 2024-11-13 15:13:30

In January, California became the first state to prohibit the term from many official proceedings. Lawmakers in Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, and New York may follow suit. The American Medical Association repudiated the diagnosis in 2021 and last October, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) withdrew its approval of a 2009 policy paper that had frequently been cited as medical support for the theory.

Type of work: Investigative / Enterprise In-depth examination of a single subject requiring extensive research and resources.

If there is something to be said for LED lighting modules, it's that they are usually dead on for color. Red is red, etc. One problem with filtered incandescent signals is that the filters may vary in their tint, etc, and there is still the underlying full spectrum (or mostly so) light behind them.

Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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•In Minneapolis, Tasers were used 82 times on people in mental health crisis following a 911 call between January 2020 and March 2023, the MindSite News/Medill analysis of public data shows. Twenty-seven of the subjects were Black and six were Native American.

•In Spokane, Tasers were used in response to 20 mental health-related 911 calls between 2018 and 2022, according to a review of police reports available online. Seven of those cases started with 911 calls mentioning suicide.

Garrett, a promising basketball player and student at Norwich University, had been experiencing family problems and feeling overwhelmed for weeks, he told MindSite News. On July 31, he’d been arrested for misdemeanor trespassing and loitering, and earlier on August 2 he had an encounter with police that “required several officers to subdue and arrest” him, the police report said.

About three hours after officers were called to the hotel, an ambulance still had not arrived. Garrett told MindSite News he felt uncomfortable with the police surrounding him and talking about him, so he tried to run from them. An officer grabbed Garrett’s belt to prevent him from leaving, as Garrett “got too irate to contain,” kicking and “pulling away,” according to a police report.

With the segmented nature of the radio communications, T&E crews as well as MofW personnel may think they are being ignored - when the dispatcher is actively working with other personnel on a different part of the territory. The radio towers on the territory only have a limited range, ideally the range of one tower will just overlap the territory of the adjacent towers. The towers have a approximate range of 20 miles, depending upon terrain. A subdivision will be set up to have a road radio channel designated by the Timetable. On my carrier, trains & MofW personnel are to call signals and/or block occupancy over the Road Channel. Trains and MofW personnel are to monitor the Road Channel, unless directed to other channels for specific purposes. There are Dispatcher Channels, MofW Channels and Yard Channels for designated territories. Since there is a limited radio spectrum for railroad use. The radio channels are set up in concert with other carriers operating in the geographic area so that conflict between carriers is eliminated or at least minimized. Atmospheric radio skip can cause distant locations to sound like they are right next door, from time to time. There are also dead spots, where for whatever the reasons, virtually no radio communications can take place.

I've had signals, including control points drop in front of me. You bring your train to a normal stop and contact the dispatcher. Often, they don't even notice that the control point dropped out. In those cases, they don't pull someone out of service. Only when the dispatcher was holding the signal against you. Sometimes a dispatcher has warned a train that signal or track work going on within the block might drop a control point to red in front of a train. When doing so, he just tells the train to come to a normal stop and contact him.

No, the track is not locked out or service suspended on it, for the same reason a traffic cop doesn’t close a street when he writes you a ticket for running a red traffic light, again, the assumption is the signals work as designed.

Yes, you are exactly correct that was the accident. It was a weird situation and resulted in NS taking corrective measures as to the maintenacne of their signals.

Depending on the physical characteristic of the particular territory, Dispatcher may have to ask to take down the signal at the 2nd advance control point. At one location on my territory there are two control points that are less than one mile apart.

The Reuters investigation found that, of Taser fatalities resulting in wrongful death lawsuits, 34% of the people suffered from mental illness.

Position Light or Color Position Light I could see. With today's LEDs, they're probably cheaper to install and maintain than the high-powered incandescent bulbs of yesteryear.

Garrett told MindSite News he doesn’t believe he was a threat to himself or others, and feels the use of a Taser was unnecessary. Since that night, he said, he’s had a hard time adjusting to regular life.

It is possible for track circuits in the field to come on for a variety of reasons and drop a previously cleared signal to STOP, these track circuits will generate a record. When a train passes a STOP signal under these circumstances, the train notifies the Dispatcher who notifies the Chief Dispatcher who has the Signal Technicians run a printout of the Signal Log for the affected location to verify the crew's claim. If the signal did drop to STOP in the face of the train - the train is given authority to proceed in conformity with the rules for a train having been delayed in the block. It the crew's claim is in error, the train stays stopped at that location, company officials are notified to interview the crew and a recrew is ordered. A decision whether to cut blocked road crossings will be made by a Senior Division Official, local authorities are notified of the blocked crossings so they can be knowledgeable of the crossings being blocked and handle their responsibilities accordingly.

Red Signalmanga

Position Light or Color Position Light I could see. With today's LEDs, they're probably cheaper to install and maintain than the high-powered incandescent bulbs of yesteryear.

A comparative interrupted time-series assessing the impact of the Armstrong decision on officer-involved shootings. Police Practice and Research. May 20, 2022.

It is pretty much accepted that signals work the way they are intended to, after all, we trust them daily with our lives, so getting by a red one is almost impossible to defend.

“Mental health systems in place aren’t funded appropriately,” Markman said, “and law enforcement should not be the number one agency dealing with mental health.”

A few days before Garrett’s encounter, on July 27, a homeless man named Ernso Prinvil was walking naked through Atlanta traffic and acting erratically, as described in public records obtained by MindSite News. An officer chased Prinvil on foot, ordering him to stop and “get on the ground,” commands Prinvil ignored.

"About 15 years ago there was a fatal rear-end collision on ConRail at Hummelstown (near Hershey) that the NTSB report concluded was caused by a combination of rusty water in the signal lens, an out-of-focus lens, foliage partially obscuring the signal, and a bright fall late afternoon sun shining directly on the face of the signal and its lenses, all of which made the red-over-red look like a yellow-over green. See REAR-END COLLISION/ DERAILMENT - CONRAIL HUMMELSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 29, 1997 - NTSB Report No. RAB-98-23, adopted 12-1-1998, at: http://www3.ntsb.gov/publictn/1998/RAB9823.htm ."

Northwestern University assistant professor Kari Lydersen and MindSite News staff reporter Josh McGhee contributed reporting. McGhee is a Rosalynn Carter Fellow exploring the ways that the mental health and legal systems intersect to the detriment of Black and brown people in America.

On Dec. 16, 2022 when her husband was acting erratically and she feared he might cause harm, Graham called the same state crisis hotline that handled the call about Jarontez Garrett. She hoped clinicians would come to help – instead, three police officers arrived at her home. Nelson Graham refused to leave with them, sitting on his bed with crossed arms. After he ignored their verbal commands to comply, an officer fired a Taser at him multiple times until he became unresponsive, according to a police report. Nearly a week later, Graham was dead.

"On October 1, 1997, National Transportation Safety Board investigators, with representatives of the Federal Railroad Administration, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the United Transportation Union, and Conrail, used a locomotive to replicate the preaccident events. In sunny conditions, the test locomotive traveled eastbound toward signal 1061E at the same time of day that the incident occurred. Signal 1061E was set to display a stop and proceed signal.

Sela Breen is a reporter with the Medill Investigative Lab-Chicago at Northwestern University and is studying journalism, international studies and theater. She is also a contributing writer at VeryWell... More by Sela Breen

“It is a term that was developed by law enforcement experts to defend law enforcement experts when they use excessive force,” Thomsen told Mindsite News. “There are serious issues as to whether or not it is a legitimate medical diagnosis.”

Being shocked by a Taser can be painful and terrifying for anyone, but it is especially traumatic and cause lasting physical and psychological damage for people in the midst of a mental health crisis, experts say. Ironically, the very people who may be the most vulnerable to being harmed by Tasers – those in mental distress – are also more likely to have one used against them.

Jeremy Markman, an attorney who has represented families of people harmed or killed by Tasers, told MindSite News that the core issue remains a lack of meaningful mental health care that leaves police facing crises they aren’t equipped to handle.

Support our mission to report on the workings and failings of the mental health system in America and create a sense of national urgency to transform it.

Across the country, officers deploy Tasers frequently against people suffering from mental health crises, according to a collaborative investigation by MindSite News and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University based on public records requests filed with more than 100 cities nationwide seeking such data. Even in non-lethal situations, being tased may have long-term mental health consequences.

erikem BaltACD Which is one of the reasons I am personally against replacing Color Position Light and Position Light signals with Color Light signals. But I am just a old phart that is interested in SAFETY, when the rest of the industry is concerned with putting up the cheapest possible signals. Have to agree with you on that one. The CPL's have a couple of kinds of redundancy, in that one or two bulbs could burn out and it would still be possible to ascertain the aspect. Position lights are also readable by people with colorblindness. - Erik

Depending on the circumstance, if the engineer or conductor claim some extenuating condition, (the red dropped right in front of them) then an investigation would be held, but most of the time the crew admits they ran it, the CTC board will show when and where they got past it, the dispatcher will know, and most likely call them on the radio to tell them to stop and call the local trainmaster to inform him of the incident.

When Prinvil approached the officer with a “clenched fist and fighting stance,” the officer fired his taser, hitting Prinvil in his abdomen and exposed genitals. Ultimately an EMT removed the taser darts from Prinvil’s body, and he was transported to the hospital and charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency and obstruction.

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A study conducted by Michael D. White and Justin Ready at Arizona State University in 2016 found that people who were emotionally disturbed or mentally ill were nearly twice as likely to die after being shot by a Taser as those who were not. The study was based on media reports of Taser incidents between 2002 and 2006.

“To say that no one can die from an electrical shock to their body or multiple ones is just ridiculous,” said Carter, who served as chief medical examiner for Houston and consulted for the U.S. Armed Forces. “A person can die from putting their finger in a socket.”

TrainManTy Bring back the semaphore? Not around here! Frozen semaphores are very, very bad. Position Light or Color Position Light I could see. With today's LEDs, they're probably cheaper to install and maintain than the high-powered incandescent bulbs of yesteryear.

Carter, the nation’s first African American chief medical examiner, told MindSite News that Axon, formerly TASER International, has continuously pushed the idea that deaths happen because of excited delirium, not shock from Tasers.

Because they do not have the plates or markers interlocking or control point signals can't display a rule 291 aspect. NORAC rule 292 applies: STOP SIGNAL. The indication is Stop.

On really good mornings I will pickup the UP dispatcher and a Chicago operator for NS. There is so much involved with the movements of trains, particularly the closer one is to Chicago (or any other metropolitan region).

Balt:Even more great info. A couple of years ago there was a massive 3 train pile up here in my area in which the T&E crew did "think themselves into trouble", or perhaps "didnt think" (I read the NTSB report).

Running a STOP signal is a Major Rules Violation and discipline will be assessed, My understanding is that the maximum timed suspension that can be given on my carrier is 30 Days. For cases where 30 day is considered too lenient, the employees are terminated. After termination the Brotherhoods then begin the appeals process and in most cases the employees are reinstated after the carriers desired time off has elapsed.

While no comprehensive data set exists on the number of times Tasers are deployed against people in mental health crises, the collaborative investigation by MindSite News and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University involving more than 100 cities nationwide was revealing. Sixteen cities provided use-of-force logs documenting 450 incidents in which Tasers were used on people following a mental health-related 911 call since January 2020. Many cities provided use-of-force logs that don’t indicate the type of force used, and some cities lumped in Tasers with other types of force (like pepper balls).

A 2022 study by researchers at the University of South Carolina found that most respondents to a survey indicated they placed Tasers higher on their “force continuums,” and some law enforcement agencies stopped using Tasers altogether, in response to the ruling. But the study found that officers fired guns and pointed firearms at people at higher rates than before, presumably relying on guns instead of Tasers.

Because of the problems running a red can cause with the rest of the signals, most crews, once they realize they got by one, will stop and call the dispatcher (which the rules require) and tell them what happened. It keeps other trains out of trouble that way.

There was an incident on th eNorfolk Southern about 10 years ago where a crew ran a red. They said the signal looked green. When investigated it was proven that the sun, at that particular signal, at that particular tday and ime made the signal look green. The crew was exhonerated and NS put hoods on the signal to prevent it from ever happening again. A VERY rare case.

This NTSB report on a collision on SEPTA in 2006 is informative and supports a lot of the comments by Ed Blysard and BaltACD. In brief, a new engineer (5th solo trip) of a southbound train ran through 2 red signals and a switch at the end of double track - DS didn't notice it promptly (see report). However, the engineer of an opposing northbound train on the single track did, because she wondered why she had passed a Clear Green and then at the next signal had a Stop and Proceed Red - without encountering an Approach Yellow in between them !

When the test locomotive had moved to within about 1,500 feet of signal 1061E, the signal could not be clearly distinguished by persons on the locomotive. As the locomotive approached the signal more closely, the top aspect of the signal appeared to be yellow and the bottom aspect appeared to be green. Eventually, as the locomotive moved still closer to signal 1061E, the signal aspect could not be distinguished at all. Persons on the test locomotive variously reported seeing yellow, red, and green aspects."

As for Balt's comment on CPL, etc, the same could be said for semaphores, especially with today's reflective materials, as backup for the lighting at night.

Have to agree with you on that one. The CPL's have a couple of kinds of redundancy, in that one or two bulbs could burn out and it would still be possible to ascertain the aspect. Position lights are also readable by people with colorblindness.

2. Make this request out of courtesy to the crew, even tho it can be determined the crew will pass several intermediate signals?

Bear Heels’s mother called the Omaha Police Department to report that her son, who had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had gone missing.

The 40-year-old theory, increasingly rejected by medical experts, posits that people in a state of severe agitation are prone to sudden death. It has long been used to defend officers involved in the deaths of people in custody, including, in recent years, George Floyd in Minneapolis; Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York; and Angelo Quinto in Antioch, California.

Just before 11 pm on August 2, 2022, the Atlanta police department received a call from a crisis hotline asking police officers and emergency medical workers to respond to a Hyatt hotel, where 20-year-old Jarontez Garrett was reportedly acting erratically.

Often I will hear communication between dispatch and crews regarding "dropped" or "pumping" signals or track circuit issues. Another frequent conversation will involve a dispatcher asking a train if the signal can be "taken away" from the train, even tho the train is often several miles (and intermediate signals) from the affected signals. It makes quite a bit of sense now.

Nationally, Tasers have been used on people with mental illness 28% more often than those without mental illness, according to a 2016 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

And if the dispatcher (on the UP at least) wants to change a route at that absolute signal, they must wait until the affected train has reported itself stopped before changing a power switch.

"Why Did 1,000 People Die After Police Subdued Them With Force that Isn't Meant to Kill?" Associated Press, March 28, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/associated-press-investigation-deaths-police-encounters-02881a2bd3fbeb1fc31af9208bb0e310

Which is one of the reasons I am personally against replacing Color Position Light and Position Light signals with Color Light signals. But I am just a old phart that is interested in SAFETY, when the rest of the industry is concerned with putting up the cheapest possible signals.

The three-judge panel ruled that the officers used excessive and unconstitutional levels of force but granted them immunity because of ambiguities in the law. However, the panel put police departments “on notice” that, moving forward, unless someone poses “an immediate safety risk,” Taser use may not be permissible.

Indeed, Taser use often follows a family member’s call for help, as MindSite News and other media outlets have found. A Reuters investigation found that more than 100 of 1,005 Taser fatalities in the U.S. from 1983 to 2018 “began with a 911 call for help during a medical emergency.”

2. Make this request out of courtesy to the crew, even tho it can be determined the crew will pass several intermediate signals?

In Atlanta, Tasers were used at least 29 times from 2019 through 2022 in response to a 911 call about a person experiencing a mental health crisis, according to data obtained through the investigation. The Tasers were disproportionately used against Black men.

In Absolute Permissive Block signalling, and most CTC systems, following movements can pass an intermediate red signal under certain circumstances. An intermediate signal is one that is not at an interlocking or control point. These intermediate signals have a number plate or another special indicator as specified in the rules. NORAC rule 291 indication is STOP AND PROCEED, requiring a stop before passing (at Restricted Speed) UNLESS:

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Before they changed the signals, there was a dwarf signal at Fremont where at night the ditch lights would make the signal look lunar instead of red.

BaltACD Which is one of the reasons I am personally against replacing Color Position Light and Position Light signals with Color Light signals. But I am just a old phart that is interested in SAFETY, when the rest of the industry is concerned with putting up the cheapest possible signals.

Emergency Medicine Association Finally Withdraws its Approval of Policy Paper Endorsing “Excited Delirium” as Cause of Death. Physicians for Human Rights. October 13, 2023.

Augusta resident Christina Graham tried to avoid involving police when she sought mental health help for her 33-year-old husband, Nelson Lee Graham, in August 2022. She filled out a state form – form 1013 – authorizing his involuntary commitment to a hospital but said she never received a response.

Axon has historically said that its Tasers are most effective when used on the largest body part, which most assume to be the chest. And for years, the company denied any link between the use of the device and risk of cardiac arrest. Recently, however, Axon changed its guidelines to warn of a slight risk of cardiac arrest and to suggest avoiding the chest. Nonetheless, the company continues to deny liability in most Taser deaths. (Axon did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.)

Running a stop signal on our railroad gets you at least 30 days, possibly 60 days, at their discretion. I think 30 days is the minimum first offence penalty required by the FRA. An old card I have, don't know if it's been changed, says 30 days, 3 years probation first offence. 1 year, 3 years probation second offence. 5 years third offence, and there could be fines involved. In addition to running a stop (includes red flags) signal, the penalties also are for control of speed, main track authorization violations and not making the required brake tests.

Not as rare as one would think. The same thing happened at Omaha with one of our crews, except instead of green the signal looked yellow. It was red. There are a few signals still like that. At certain times of the day the sun hitting the lens changes the appearance of the aspect color slightly. I have asked a dispatcher to flag me past a signal where I wasn't certain if we had it after he had told me what his plans were. His board may show us lined up, but conditions in the field might not allow a signal to clear up.

The CADS system also keeps track of all track occupancy authorities that Dispatchers issue to both trains and MofW personnel. Operating outside of one's authority is also a Major Rules Violation and is handled in a similar manner. The CADS system is programmed to prevent overlapping authorities - if a train & MofW personnel get together - either those parties or the Dispatcher is a fault and after investigation of the situation discipline will be assessed.

•In Atlanta, Black men made up more than 80% of those shot by Tasers, although Blacks constitute only 46.7% of Atlanta’s population.

In a federal civil rights lawsuit, Trammell’s family received $2.5 million from the Village of West Milwaukee. Mark Thomsen, a veteran civil rights litigator who represented the Trammell family, rejects the excited delirium diagnosis.

caldreamer There was an incident on th eNorfolk Southern about 10 years ago where a crew ran a red. They said the signal looked green. When investigated it was proven that the sun, at that particular signal, at that particular tday and ime made the signal look green. The crew was exhonerated and NS put hoods on the signal to prevent it from ever happening again. A VERY rare case.

BaltACD:That was a great explanation of not only my hypothetical situation, but also your dispatching system in general. I listen in on scanner chatter constantly and what you outlined makes sense with bits and pieces which I have heard and accumulated over the years.

Sunlight, rusty water and ditch lights making the signal aspect look Green when it should be Red ! WOW !! Sounds like an argument for bringing back the semaphore signal.

Lets say a dispatcher has a train lined up from Control Point 224 thru Control Point 235. There are three intermediate signals spaced. If the dispatcher wants to take the signal at CP235 and the train has passed CP224, then is the dispatcher:

During these great spring and summer mornings, I go out to the patio with a cup of coffee and turn on my scanner. My makeshift antenna is pretty decent out there and around daybreak I can often hear the "skip" you referred to. It is always entertaining to hear the NS, CSX, and CN dispatchers talking to a crew 50 - 75 miles away. I do not hear the crew, but the dispatcher frequently is heard.

Most of the time a crew is halted the moment the dispatcher see the violation, and a relief crew is sent out to continue on with the train.

MP173 BaltACD:That was a great explanation of not only my hypothetical situation, but also your dispatching system in general. I listen in on scanner chatter constantly and what you outlined makes sense with bits and pieces which I have heard and accumulated over the years. Often I will hear communication between dispatch and crews regarding "dropped" or "pumping" signals or track circuit issues. Another frequent conversation will involve a dispatcher asking a train if the signal can be "taken away" from the train, even tho the train is often several miles (and intermediate signals) from the affected signals. It makes quite a bit of sense now. Lets say a dispatcher has a train lined up from Control Point 224 thru Control Point 235. There are three intermediate signals spaced. If the dispatcher wants to take the signal at CP235 and the train has passed CP224, then is the dispatcher: 1. Obligated to ask permission by rules? 2. Make this request out of courtesy to the crew, even tho it can be determined the crew will pass several intermediate signals? 3. Or under no obligation to communicate to the crew (other than signal) of the change? Ed

Paul_D_North_Jr caldreamer There was an incident on th eNorfolk Southern about 10 years ago where a crew ran a red. They said the signal looked green. When investigated it was proven that the sun, at that particular signal, at that particular tday and ime made the signal look green. The crew was exhonerated and NS put hoods on the signal to prevent it from ever happening again. A VERY rare case. As I recall, that was at Hershey, PA, and another contributing factor was an accumulation of water inside the signal lens or bulb assembly, etc. The incident resulted in a collision with another train, and I believe 1 of the crewmen was killed. And yes, the NTSB investigation exonerated the crew (but for sure implicated the maintenance policies and practices.) From my post to another thread here back in April 2011: "About 15 years ago there was a fatal rear-end collision on ConRail at Hummelstown (near Hershey) that the NTSB report concluded was caused by a combination of rusty water in the signal lens, an out-of-focus lens, foliage partially obscuring the signal, and a bright fall late afternoon sun shining directly on the face of the signal and its lenses, all of which made the red-over-red look like a yellow-over green. See REAR-END COLLISION/ DERAILMENT - CONRAIL HUMMELSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 29, 1997 - NTSB Report No. RAB-98-23, adopted 12-1-1998, at: http://www3.ntsb.gov/publictn/1998/RAB9823.htm ." That link is no longer valid - try this one instead (2 pages, approx. 12 KB electronic file size): https://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/1998/RAB9823.pdf An excerpt: "On October 1, 1997, National Transportation Safety Board investigators, with representatives of the Federal Railroad Administration, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the United Transportation Union, and Conrail, used a locomotive to replicate the preaccident events. In sunny conditions, the test locomotive traveled eastbound toward signal 1061E at the same time of day that the incident occurred. Signal 1061E was set to display a stop and proceed signal. When the test locomotive had moved to within about 1,500 feet of signal 1061E, the signal could not be clearly distinguished by persons on the locomotive. As the locomotive approached the signal more closely, the top aspect of the signal appeared to be yellow and the bottom aspect appeared to be green. Eventually, as the locomotive moved still closer to signal 1061E, the signal aspect could not be distinguished at all. Persons on the test locomotive variously reported seeing yellow, red, and green aspects." - Paul North.

If a Taser strikes a person on or near the chest, the shock can reach the heart and alter its rhythm, causing ventricular fibrillation, a type of arrhythmia, Zipes explained. In people with underlying medical conditions, drugs in the system or elevated heart rate due to emotional distress, the electrical current delivered by a Taser is more likely to be deadly, Zipes said.

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•In Sacramento, Tasers were used in response to mental health calls 46 times between 2013 and 2023, representing two thirds of the incidents in which police used force in response to a mental health-related 911 call.

I remember Wabash saying that the LED signal lights were a problem in winter (at least in his territory) because they ran so cool. He said that snow could accumulate on the lens under certain conditions and obscure the signal aspect. Hard to imagine that snow could make a signal dark.....

Paul_D_North_Jr erikem BaltACD Which is one of the reasons I am personally against replacing Color Position Light and Position Light signals with Color Light signals. But I am just a old phart that is interested in SAFETY, when the rest of the industry is concerned with putting up the cheapest possible signals. Have to agree with you on that one. The CPL's have a couple of kinds of redundancy, in that one or two bulbs could burn out and it would still be possible to ascertain the aspect. Position lights are also readable by people with colorblindness. - Erik Note that Amtrak - even with its perpetual budget problems - uses Color Position Lights (or Position Color Lights - "PCLs"). See: http://www.railroadsignals.us/rulebooks/amtraknec/amtrakNECaspects.pdf (1pg., 45 KB file size) http://www.railroadsignals.us/signals/pcl/ - Paul North.

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The AP investigation also found that many of those who died were experiencing a mental health crisis. (The investigation also led to a documentary aired on PBS Frontline on April 30.)

“The key factor to me was the impact the commitment order had on the officers,” Ranalli wrote. “As soon as they learned it had been signed, they immediately discontinued any attempt at verbal persuasion, which had worked so far, and instead resorted to orders and then the CED [conducted energy device] on a person in obvious crisis.”

Douglas Zipes, a cardiologist and expert in electrophysiology who has testified in Taser cases in court, told Mindsite News he believes excited delirium is “a fictitious term” and that he has not seen any evidence to prove its validity.

What would occur specifically at that time? Would the CTC boards light up? Let's assume there was no collision with another train. Would the train crew be subject to immediate investigation including testing?Would the train and section of track be "locked down" for investigation? If so, what would occur at the road crossings? Ed

There are non-controlled absolute signals (leaving signals that govern movement to CTC tracks over hand throw switches and automatic interlockings are a couple that come to mind) where, after stopping and meeting other certain requirements, trains can pass a stop indication without dispatcher authority.

Required by the rules to contact the crew and ascertain that the crew can get safely stopped before passing the next absolute signal. If the crew says they can get stopped the dispatcher can take the signal down. If the crew says they can't then the dispatcher doesn't take down the signal.

Beyond AtlantaA Taser stun gun can transmit up to 1,200 volts. A recent investigation led by the Associated Press found 538 people were killed by Tasers or stun guns in the 10-year period between 2012 and 2021. Taser manufacturer Axon Enterprise used to describe the device as “non-lethal” but now calls it “less lethal.” Another national dataset, compiled by the advocacy group Campaign Zero, found that nearly a quarter of people who died as a result of being tased by police were experiencing a mental health crisis.

On September 30, 2023, police responded to a call for help in Bolingbrook regarding a 41-year-old man in diabetic crisis, who also was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The man, John Taylor, was shot by a Taser while scuffling with police and later died at a hospital. Bolingbrook police, Illinois State Police, and the Will County State’s Attorney and Will County Coroner all denied public records requested for this story, citing an ongoing investigation.

Citations & References:"Why Did 1,000 People Die After Police Subdued Them With Force that Isn't Meant to Kill?" Associated Press, March 28, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/associated-press-investigation-deaths-police-encounters-02881a2bd3fbeb1fc31af9208bb0e310 "Mapping Police Violence" database. Campaign Zero. Undated. https://airtable.com/appzVzSeINK1S3EVR/shroOenW19l1m3w0H/tblxearKzw8W7ViN8 Conducted Energy Device (Taser) in Subjects With Mental Illness. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry Law 44-213-17.2016 In Puerto Rico, Calling 911 in a Mental Health Emergency Can Get You Tased. MindSite News. December 21, 2023. Man Dies Days After Being Tased by Richmond County Deputy. WBAC. December 22, 2022. Man Dies After Scuffle With Cops, Being Tasered: Bolingbrook Police. Illinois Patch. October 1, 2023. Special Report: ‘Breathe, Ronald, Breathe:’ The court case curbing Taser use. Reuters. August 23, 2017. A comparative interrupted time-series assessing the impact of the Armstrong decision on officer-involved shootings. Police Practice and Research. May 20, 2022. Emergency Medicine Association Finally Withdraws its Approval of Policy Paper Endorsing “Excited Delirium” as Cause of Death. Physicians for Human Rights. October 13, 2023.

A couple of days ago, I saw a controlled signal go from a flashing yellow to red in front of a train on the adjacent track. (He got stopped before passing it.) Maintenance of Way had been working, under look out protection, on a switch in the control point. I think they did something that caused a track occupancy to show up and drop the signals.

A number of cities in North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia have passed stricter regulations on Taser use since the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January 2016 that Tasers should only be used on someone who poses “an immediate safety risk.” The ruling came in a case filed by the family of Ronald Armstrong, who died in 2011 after being shocked by a Taser while in the midst of a mental health crisis in South Carolina.

Conducted Energy Device (Taser) in Subjects With Mental Illness. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry Law 44-213-17.2016

Celestin’s family told local media that it should be mandatory for mental health clinicians to ride along with police on such calls. A response of that nature might have prevented Celestin’s death as well as the 2017 death of Zachary Bear Heels, an Indigenous Omaha man.

“To say that no one can die from an electrical shock to their body or multiple ones is just ridiculous. A person can die from putting their finger in a socket.”

Ten months after the appeals court ruling, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in the case. That left the ruling in effect – but only in the five states of the 4th Circuit. Reuters reported the next year that Taser usage fell dramatically in several cities in the five eastern states.

Red signallyrics meaning

dehusman Required by the rules to contact the crew and ascertain that the crew can get safely stopped before passing the next absolute signal. If the crew says they can get stopped the dispatcher can take the signal down. If the crew says they can't then the dispatcher doesn't take down the signal.

Retired forensic pathologist Joyce Carter has studied the concept of excited delirium for years, starting with her fellowship at the Dade County medical examiner’s office in Miami in 1988.

Armstrong was shot five times by a Taser while sitting on the street outside a hospital with his arms and legs wrapped around the post of a stop sign. The necessary papers to involuntarily commit him on a psychiatric hold had just been served.

It is always best to advise trains of the situations that the Dispatcher knows the train will encounter. If a train is going to have to stop behind another train - tell them about it. Train & Engine crews try to out think the dispatcher from behind their control stand - since they can't see the dispatchers picture of the railroad and the priorities the dispatcher has been given to operate with - T&E crews can think themselves into trouble.

No, the PRR's were "Position Light" signals only - all were the 'lunar' white (slightly amber) color. Only B&O and affiliated roads (plus maybe an oddball or two someplace) had CPLs until Amtrak's big signal upgrades started with the several Northeast Corridor rebuildings (1988 ?), etc. See:

An officer fired his Taser at Garrett, and the electricity-conducting darts struck him in his arm and lower back, according to the police report. Then the officers handcuffed him. He was taken to jail, charged with disorderly conduct and transferred to Grady Memorial Hospital, where staff said he was experiencing a mental health crisis, according to the police report.

lenzfamily Hard to imagine that snow could make a signal dark..... I guess every technology has its challenges. Charlie Chilliwack, BC

"Mapping Police Violence" database. Campaign Zero. Undated. https://airtable.com/appzVzSeINK1S3EVR/shroOenW19l1m3w0H/tblxearKzw8W7ViN8

Markman’s clients have included the family of Jean Samuel Celestin, who died in April 2019 after being tasered and left in restraints during a mental health crisis in his home in Ocoee, Florida. Body camera footage shows Celestin begging for mercy from officers, apologizing and clearly confused by the situation. “You are about to get shot, get on your fucking stomach right now,” one of the officers shouted at him, as seen in the bodycam footage.

The signal has a "G" (grade) or "R" (restricting) plate in addtion to the number plate AND the train is not a passenger train. Passenger trains must make a full stop before proceeding.

In an article responding to that study, attorney and former Glenville, N.Y. police chief Mike Ranalli argued that instead of making sweeping changes to policy and replacing Taser use with firearm use, police departments should institute better training as to what constitutes a safety risk. He also noted that once an involuntary commitment order was issued for Armstrong, officers focused only on carrying it out rather than de-escalating the situation.

Red signalmeaning

Running by a red board no matter where it is located is an automatic pulled out of service and carries a 30, 60 or 90 days suspension (depending on the previous number of similar incidents) for the engineer and conductor; with both having to surrender their licenses…it’s a federal law.

In it's final days the PRR started putting Red on the Horizontal aspects and Conrail continued the process. Amtrak added the other colors after it took over the NEC.

Two days later, police officers identified Bear Heels, 29, dancing and behaving erratically at a gas station in Omaha. When they tried to restrain him and bring him to the police car, Bear Heels resisted. He was shocked by a Taser 12 times and punched several times as police tried to handcuff him. He was eventually cuffed to a gurney, but medics said he had no pulse. He was pronounced dead at the hospital, with the cause of death ruled as excited delirium.

“He really needed people to de-escalate the situation,” said Mahmud Fitil, an Indigenous activist with the Great Plains Action Society who has been involved with the Bear Heels case for years. “Talk to him in a calm manner. He needed trained mental health professionals. He didn’t need police officers.”

In the Reuters investigation, 290 incidents – nearly 27% of Taser fatalities – listed excited delirium as the cause of death.

A typical case was that of Adam Trammell, who died after being tased by West Milwaukee police officers who responded to a call about a naked man in an apartment hallway. Trammell was in the shower when police arrived, and ultimately was tased 18 times and suffered a black eye and broken rib in his encounter with police, as described in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

•In Puerto Rico, the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, in Spanish) analyzed hundreds of use-of-force reports from 2018 through 2021 and found 23% to 30% occurred in cases where people were suffering an apparent mental health crisis. In more than half of these cases, officers used a Taser, according to the findings of the investigation, a collaboration between CPI, Medill and MindSite News.

He was talking to himself and expressing “suicidal ideations,” according to a police report, so the officers filled out paperwork to have Garrett involuntarily committed to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. Garrett’s mother was there, and asked officers to “stand off,” since her son had recently had negative interactions with police.

Most crews are not going to try and talk their way out of it simply because it is almost impossible too…If I claim a signal malfunction, but the train that follows mine has no issue, and the maintainer checks the circuit and it works, that’s pretty hard to argue with.

To get to a red signal in the first place you have to pass at least 2 other signals that give certain indications, and such indications tell the crew to expect a red, so getting by a signal they expect to be red is again, hard to defend.

Paul_D_North_Jr No, the PRR's were "Position Light" signals only - all were the 'lunar' white (slightly amber) color. Only B&O and affiliated roads (plus maybe an oddball or two someplace) had CPLs until Amtrak's big signal upgrades started with the several Northeast Corridor rebuildings (1988 ?), etc. See: http://www.integratedsignalsystems.com/signals/RRSpecific.htm http://www.railroadsignals.us/signals/pl/PLaspects56.pdf http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Signal/aspects_us_pl.html http://www.railroadsignals.us/signals/pl/pl.htm - Paul North.

On my carrier in CTC territory, every absolute signal is a part of the Computer Assisted Dispatching System (CADS). All CTC territory track circuits, as defined in the CADS system, have an identity in the CADS system as well as each signal and switch. Whenever a route is lined by the Dispatcher a computer record is generated for every action that the Dispatcher used to line that route as well as the communications sent and received from the signal appurtenances in the field. Dispatchers are required to apply the correct train identification for every train (including yard jobs operating in dispatcher controlled territory) at the origin point for that train and it's identity will be tracked through the system as it progresses. As the train progresses across it's route, records are generated, timed to the second, for each track segment occupied and/or signal operated past.

Just as we have heating systems for switch points, it would be possible to work out a system for signals in areas that are subject to the problem The rear-window glass that has a heating element inside it to defog (and defrost) the glass in automotive rear windows is a wonderful thing--but I am sure that such would be expensive to install, operate, and to maintain.

This story is the latest installment of Fateful Encounters, an ongoing investigative collaboration between MindSite News, the Medill Investigative Lab-Chicago at Northwestern University and other media outlets exploring police response to mental health crises. This work is generously supported by the Sozosei Foundation.

•In Augusta, Georgia, Medill and MindSite News identified at least 78 incidents where force appeared to be used in response to a mental health call from 2016 to 2022, based on matching addresses, times and dates from use-of-force logs and 911 call logs. In 25 of those incidents, a Taser was used.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness’s recommendations on police use of force urge officers to only use conducted energy devices (CEDs) – which include Tasers, stun guns and similar non-firearm weapons – on those experiencing mental health crises when there is a great risk of injury to an officer, the individual, or a third party. The group also recommends such devices only be used if no other de-escalation strategies are possible.