Sam Post made an ugly fall on the railway crossing in the Bossche district of Orthen in 2018. She fell out of consciousness and was saved by two men from the track, just before a train passed by. To this day, she experiences the consequences of the accident. She cannot yet close the chapter because the accident has not yet been handled with ProRail and the municipality of Den Bosch. “My life will never be the same again.”
It is a Tuesday in January 2018. Sam is on his way to work by bike when her wheel gets stuck between the rails at the railway crossing in Orthen. She falls, ends up on her head and becomes unconscious. Two men who happen to see her come to the rescue and get Sam off the track. Not much later, a train rushes by.
Sam is transferred to the Jeroen Bosch Hospital with a brain bruise, a break in her skull and internal bleeding in her brain. She survives the accident, but still has a lot of problems with it. “I have been hypersensitive to light, sound and scent since the accident. I also suffer from concentration problems. Everything costs me extra energy. If I do something for a day, I have to recover at least three days,” she says.
“I just remember that I was going to work on my bike.”
Seven years later Sam has not had her life back. “I’m not going to get that back,” she thinks. For the accident, Sam worked as a goldsmith. She can no longer do this work due to the required tension and focus. “I would like to work again, but that is too intensive for me. I can hardly do anything anymore and now I am forced to receive a WIA benefit and social assistance benefits.”
After the accident, Sam made a case against ProRail and the municipality of Den Bosch, because they are responsible for the safety of the railway crossing. Sam demanded compensation, but she has not received it yet.
To determine who was liable for the accident, a special procedure had to be started. In addition, there was uncertainty about the influence of Sams Autism – which was determined two months before the accident – on her life. This caused a delay in the handling of the case. “A proposal has been made for an amount, but that is less than one tenth of the damage I have for the rest of my life,” she says.
“We would like to go to a scheme.”
ProRail says in a response that the handling of the case does indeed take a long time. “The treatment of personal injury is often a long -term process. We are still in contact with SAM and her lawyer. There has been some time some time because of her medical condition. Last year we helped Sam with the return to society. We would like to go to a scheme and are still talking about this,” says ProRail.
Injury
That handling the personal injury at SAM takes so long, according to lawyer Mark de Hek of SAP Personal Injury Advocaten is unusual. “It is extremely long, but it happens.”
If it takes more than two years before such a file has been completed, it is called a long -term personal injury file. Lawyer De Hek says that research has shown that these kinds of long -term cases often have additional consequences for victims.
“I would therefore like to make a call to look mainly at the interests of the victim in the event of long -term personal injury. It is better for both parties if the file can be handled.”
After Sam’s accident, the railway crossing in Orthen has been adjusted. The place has been made safer for cyclists and motorized traffic is no longer permitted. Sam sees this adjustment as a confirmation of that the railway crossing was more unsafe. “But according to ProRail’s lawyer I couldn’t use that as evidence,” says Sam. “Then in the future, ProRail would adjust other dangerous railway crossings less quickly, because this can be against and used in other things.”
Sam has to wait a while at rest. A new settlement meeting is planned for August.
In the meantime, she is busy with a documentary in which she shows what she has experienced. “I have found two fantastic filmmakers who will help me with this. The documentary is going to be called ‘fallen’. The whole process can be followed via Instagram,” she says enthusiastically.