Last Monday, Tara Rose McAvoy got killed by train (accident) in Austin, Texas. It is very unfortunate because she’s only 18 years old. She even prepared to attend Miss Deaf America in California this summer. This accident changed whole game itself instantly.
Right now, the accident is under investigated and we won’t know the results for time being. But I can tell you something. It is not rare – it is almost common that deaf person got killed by train for years. It doesn’t matter – she is gone for good.
I’ve never seen this one spreading around so fast – not like before. Tara is like celebrities and a lot of people knew her as Miss Deaf Texas 2005-2007. She even has her own blog at myspace.com. I don’t recall if I ever meet her before but I knew several previous Miss Deaf Texas when I was involved with TAD before.
Amazingly, this storyline has spread all over world. Google News showed that it was published nearly 200 different websites.
I do remember back when I was young boy – my parent warned me to stay away from train tracks and pay attention all the times. I used live in small town near Pittsburgh called Pitcairn. In 1970’s, Pitcairn was well known for its huge and famous train station even they are not in it anymore. There’s still couple of trains pass by everyday.
No matter what, we were taught to watch out or avoid train and its tracks. My family members tell me that deaf people got hit by trains every year. Even, we don’t have statistics for it but based from what you heard and reading paper, it is bad than you think.
In past five years, I have been doing a lot of deaf-related from paper on our Deaf Network of Texas mailing list. I do remember it happened in Dallas few years ago. In fact, it doesn’t matter if you are deaf or hearing, someone will die by train accident every year however I do think deaf people have little disadvantage when they cannot hear train but they should have been pay attention!
One of the editors wrote this:
No one is really to blame in Monday’s tragedy; it’s most likely a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But it should remind everyone on foot that saving a few minutes taking a shortcut along the tracks is not worth the very present risk of being killed or maimed.
Another one from article:
Austin police say McAvoy text messaged her mother just minutes before the accident happened. The 18-year-old said she was going to take a short cut down the railroad tracks to meet her mom at work. "We believe she may have been sending text messages to friends and family as well during that time," Fugitt said. That’s a factor, police say, that could have kept her from noticing the train.
Rest in Peace, Tara
Grant W Laird Jr.
http://blog.grantlairdjr.com
For more information, please check it out below:
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite 
According to recent newspaper online at Frederick News-Post, Annalee Laird is one of three ladies that got injuries during car accident. 
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