HIGHWAY ACCIDENT REPORT--AUTOMOBILE INTRUSION ONTO THE LONG ISLAND RAILROAD ELECTRIFIED TRACKS, AND FIRE, GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK, AUGUST 8, 1973

At 4:30 p.m., e.d.s.t., on August 8, 1973, an automobile carrying five teenagers was driven onto the electrified tracks of the Long Island Railroad by an unlicensed 15-year-old girl. The car's contact with the third rail caused a momentary short circuit and initiated severe electrical arcing. The car immediately began to burn at the front, and the fire spread to the rear. The two girls in the front seats escaped through the right door. The three girls in the back seat died in the fire. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the cause of this accident was the driving of the automobile by an unlicensed and untrained juvenile of the roadway onto electrified tracks, where it crashed into the third rail.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Surface Transportation Safety
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1974-9-5

Media Info

• Pagination: 33 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash causes; Crash injury research; Crashes; Electric railroads; Electrical equipment; Fatalities; Hazards; Railroad electrification; Railroad grade crossings; Research; Safety; Short circuits; Third rail; Traffic crashes
• Identifier Terms: Long Island Rail Road
• Old TRIS Terms: Electric equipment hazards; Grade crossing accidents
• Subject Areas: Highways; Railroads; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00081949
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-HAR-74-3
• Files: NTIS, TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 6 1976 12:00AM