man's death on railroad tracks in montreal west an accident, coroner rules
despite safety issues highlighted in the area, the coroner did not blame the infrastructure for the man's death.
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a communter train passes through the westminster ave. level crossing in montreal. a coroner has reported a man's accidental death here was not caused by the design of the crossing, or the fault of train operators.
allen mcinnis
/
montreal gazette files
a coroner found that road design or infrastructure were not to blame for a man’s death at a notorious level crossing in montreal west. the report, made public late monday, concluded the april 4 death of ronald moore, 71, was accidental and found no fault among train operators, police officers or emergency workers who responded to the accident.
during a spring blizzard, moore was walking on the level crossing north to south on the tracks at westminster ave. at the corner of sherbrooke st. w. about 4:20 p.m. near the montreal west train station. that’s when a train heading west at a low speed crashed into him and dragged him along a distance of 10 metres.
the train conductor had activated his emergency brake and called 911 immediately after the collision. moore was pinned under the train and unconscious by the time first responders arrived. he was transported to the montreal general hospital, where medical imagery revealed a subdural hematoma and a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is bleeding around the brain. his family elected not to opt for extreme measures to save his life, rather to make him comfortable, and he was declared dead on april 15. the man didn’t have any alcohol detected in his system when he was admitted to the hospital.
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in preparing her report, coroner amélie lavigne examined video footage of the incident that showed moore was looking straight ahead at the time of the crash, looking neither left nor right. the report stated that the barrier for pedestrians to cross had been lowered and the lights were flashing at the time of his crossing. moore was walking on the east side of the street, whereas the demarcated place for pedestrians to cross is situated on the west side.
there are three train tracks at that crossing, separated by 10 metres between them. a few seconds before moore was hit, another train had crossed through the intersection, heading east. the train that hit moore was travelling west at a speed of 13 km/h.
“it’s possible that mr. moore had assumed that the barrier and the lights were signalling the train heading east and not the westbound train that hit him,” the report states.
crash site investigators reported the train’s operator had sounded the horn, but moore did not react. lavigne postulated that the hood he was wearing obstructed his view, but didn’t know why he didn’t hear the horn, as there was no evidence he was wearing earphones.
moore’s medical history showed he had hypertension and anxiety problems and had been diagnosed with major depression in 1993.
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“but there is no element that allows us to think that this was a suicidal act,” lavigne wrote.
she added that the condition of the roadway, the design of the road, the weather and the state of the train itself were not factors in the incident.
“police officers determined that a lack of attention on the part of mr. moore is the principal factor of the collision,” she said.
she concluded that it’s possible moore either didn’t see the westbound train or he had judged he had enough time to cross before it arrived.
despite the safety issues that have been highlighted regarding the intersection for several years, lavigne had nothing to say about the general safety aspects of the area. the city of montreal west and the english montreal school board have been asking for a crossing guard to be stationed in the area because of the large number of students walking to get to royal west academy and loyola high school. in october, a 14-year-old boy was hit by a car in that area, renewing calls to improve safety.
request for further comment from the coroner’s office and with montreal mayor beny masella were not returned by publication time.
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