(Brownsville, Tennessee – January 15, 2014)
As residents of Brownsville, TN continue to grieve the tragic death of a 23-year-old father of a 17-month-old son at the dangerous and unguarded railroad crossing of CSX rails and Sugar Creek Road last December 11, nearly a thousand of them have joined a petition drive, championed by the victim’s fiancée, to install active warning devices at the intersection.
Tyler Stroder was killed instantly when his 1995 Toyota Corolla was struck on the driver’s side by a single CSX locomotive hauling six freight cars at the crossing which is equipped solely with passive railroad crossing cross-buck and highway “yield” signage, devices unable to give warning to or protect the motorist from oncoming trains. Only active signalization such as flashing lights, bells and crossing gates, when functioning properly, can do that. Active signalization is the hope of Areanna Reyna, who was engaged to be married to the now-deceased father, to “make sure something is done so this doesn’t happen again.”
“That’s all I’m trying to do,” Ms. Reyna told a Memphis Action News TV Channel 5 WMC reporter. “This is the fourth accident that has happened here and the second fatality,” she explained.
But the petition demanding greater safety measures at the crossing is still about 5,000 signatures short of producing an effort that the Tennessee DOT will give serious consideration, and a large number of attendees at this coming Saturday’s planned fund-raising benefit for Tyler’s toddler son, Braden Stroder, at The Farms in Covington, TN is hoped to bring the petition closer to the necessary number of signees.