Ravenna teen driver dies in train-vehicular accident

Ravenna teen, Sierra Thornton, had just received her permit to drive with a licensed passenger when an oncoming train hit the car she drove holding her father and four sisters. Alyssa Morlacci and Gabriel Kramer investigated the accident and how citizens can support prevention efforts.

[rpavideo caption = “Tragedy struck a Ravenna family when 15-year-old Sierra Thornton lost her life in a car accident with a train. TV2’s Gabriel Kramer visited the tracks where the accident took place.”]RPA_04_Kramer_Train[/rpavideo]

How the accident could have been prevented

by Alyssa Morlacci

RAVENNA, OH –The phone in Portage County Sheriff David Doak’s office is constantly ringing. The stress of the job is reflected by the tiredness in his eyes.

He’s less than one year into his second term as county sheriff, but he knows exactly how much longer he’s got.

“Thirty eight months, 12 days, 9 hours, 52 minutes and 49 seconds,” he reports, pulling out his smart phone and referencing a countdown he’s created using an application.

[pullquote] “I’m smart enough to know I’ve had enough” [/pullquote]

It isn’t that Doak doesn’t love his job, but he believes a person can only work for so long in law enforcement and as an emergency respondent.

“When you get into high stress occupations like this, and you’re on call 24/7, I’m smart enough to know I’ve had enough,” Doak says. “And I’m getting too old to be doing it.”

Doak responds on evenings like Sunday, Oct. 6, when Ravenna teen, Sierra Thornton,  panicked while crossing train tracks off the 5000 block of South Prospect Street in Ravenna Township in a car with her father and four sisters.

The 15-year-old had just received her permit to drive with a licensed passenger when an oncoming train hit the car, causing the vehicle to land up-side-down along the side of the track. Thornton’s father and sisters survived the accident with minor injuries. She, however, did not make it.

When Sheriff Doak arrived at the scene, he parked his car with other responsive vehicles along Prospect Street. He climbed the train’s sidecar latter and descended down the other side. It was his only way to cross the track, as the train was only able to stop about 1,000 ft ahead. When Doak got to the other side, he saw what he claimed was one of the worst vehicular accidents he’s seen during his career.

“It’s your job and you know you have things to do, you get those things done, but you don’t go home, go to bed and sleep very well – that just doesn’t happen,” Doak said.

Doak said this accident could have been prevented had the tracks been equipped with crossing gates or warning lights.

According to the Angels on Track foundation, train accidents occur at an average of one every 90 minutes in the United States, causing 255 fatalities a year.

There are more than 6,000 public crossings in Ohio, but less than half (33 percent in the U.S.) have gates, even though gates are 80 to 90 percent more effective in stopping cars than crossing signs.

Angels on Track is a nonprofit founded by Dennis and Vicky Moore in Stark County after their 12-year-old son, Ryan Moore, and other passengers was killed at a crossing only marked by signs. It was the eighth accident to occur at that particular crossing in 20 years.

The Moores filed a lawsuit that reached the Ohio Supreme Court and from the settlement, the couple started the Angels on Track foundation, which has installed gates at that particular crossing, reimbursed local highway authorities more than $40,000 for installing gates and lights at other crossings, and helped to upgrade 44 crossings in 17 Ohio counties.

“My heart goes out to those affected by the tragedy in Ravenna,” Vicky Moore says.
Citizens can help Angels on Track with its effort to improve railroad crossing safety by filling out a dangerous crossing report or by making a donation on the foundation’s website.