9 July 2008
NV Woman Survives Hit by Train
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A North Vancouver woman suffered only minor injuries after her
car collided with a CPR freight train at an uncontrolled crossing on Forbes Avenue following Canada Day festivities at Waterfront Park.
A 1999 city bylaw prohibits the sounding of any train whistles in the area.
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North Vancouver British Columbia - A North Vancouver woman
says she's "extremely fortunate" to be alive after her car and a train collided Canada Day at a Lower Lonsdale rail crossing.
The accident happened at about 5 p.m. at a CN Rail crossing on Forbes Avenue south of West Esplanade, shortly after Canada Day
celebrations wrapped up at Waterfront Park.
Terry Lehouillier was travelling southbound on Forbes Avenue after pulling out of the BCIT Marine Campus parkade. An eastbound Canadian
Pacific Railway freight train was approaching the uncontrolled crossing when it struck Lehouillier's 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe SUV as she
tried to cross.
"As I pulled onto the tracks, I looked left but I did not look right. And the train was right there," she said. "They
(the train) dragged me up the tracks and then I flipped sideways into the fence beside the Marine Building."
The impact totalled her SUV, but she suffered only minor injuries with soreness to her neck. "That's the least of my worries. At
least I'm alive," said Lehouillier. "I don't know what my excuse is. There really isn't any, aside from my stupidity."
There are no automatic gates, signal lights, or warning bells at the unmarked crossing. A 1999 City of North Vancouver bylaw prohibits
train crews from sounding their horns as they approach the Chesterfield Avenue crossing, one block away. City staff was unable to
provide information on whether the bylaw applies to the Forbes Avenue crossing.
Similar bylaws are in place district-wide in West Vancouver and in the Norgate area in the District of North Vancouver.
CPR spokesperson Mike LoVecchio said it is a federal requirement for a train to whistle at an uncontrolled crossing, but municipalities
can apply for exemptions.
"Just because there's a local requirement that a train not whistle at a crossing... doesn't change the fact there is still a
crossing there," he said. "There is still - purely from a safety perspective - a need to look both ways before proceeding
across the crossing."
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