2 November 2010

Motorist Survives Collision with Train

CP Rail workers look over the damage done to a
Ford pickup Monday after the driver drove through
the railway crossing at River Road and the East
Trans-Canada Highway in Valleyview and T-boned a
passing train

Kamloops British Columbia - A lowered barricade and ringing alarm failed to stop a distracted driver from steering through a Valleyview railway crossing and into the path of a train Monday.
 
"He said he was looking at me. He wasn't trying to beat the train. He just wasn't looking," said Jaclyn Collinge, 28. "I feel like if I wasn't here, it wouldn't have happened."
 
The Thompson Rivers University student said she decided to stop and enjoy a quiet moment by the river on her way home after class Monday afternoon.
 
She had just walked back to her truck, which was parked at the boat launch at River Road, and was about to leave when the crossing arm lowered and the alarm began.
 
"I was thinking timing. Had I left five minutes earlier I would have missed the train," said Collinge.
 
Moments later a Ford pickup truck drove up. Instead of stopping, it continued southbound around the lowered arm and into the crossing at the same time as the train, she said.
 
"He T-boned the first part of the train. If he had been two seconds faster, he would have been smashed by the train," said Collinge, adding that it appeared as though everything happened in slow motion.
 
The impact spun the truck into a pair of posts holding the arm and flashing lights. The truck hit hard enough to knock both posts over.
 
Collinge ran to help, uncertain of what she would find. The driver was sitting in the truck, pale, and conscious. She said he was bleeding from his neck and shoulder and complained about a sore arm, but was otherwise unharmed.
 
"He was fine. Thank God."
 
Collinge was able to get the man out of the truck and sit him down. She got him to drink some water and a cola to ease his shock.
 
She said he wanted to talk to his wife, but Collinge wasn't able to get a cellphone signal. The pair walked to a nearby home and phoned 911.
 
Meanwhile, the train crew got the train stopped and ran back to the scene. CP Rail spokesman Mike LoVecchio said everyone involved is thankful there were no serious injuries, but the experience is still traumatic.
 
"Every time something like this happens, it's a potential fatality," he said, adding trains can't stop suddenly or swerve out of the way.
 
He reminded motorists to pay attention when approaching a railway crossing and wait patiently for the train to pass.
 
"It will pass in a couple of minutes," said LoVecchio.
 
RCMP Const. Rose Dunsmore said paramedics took the man to Royal Inland Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
 
Police are investigating, but driver inattention is the likely cause, said Dunsmore.
 
She said it's amazing the driver wasn't critically injured or even killed.
 
"He's very lucky."
 
The wreckage was cleared and the train was rolling again within an hour.
 
Jason Hewlett.