Wadena Saskatchewan - A semi driver who drove into the path of a freight train, causing the train to hit one of the grain trailers he was pulling, has been found guilty under the Traffic Safety Act of driving without due care and attention.
 
Joseph Hartl, 68, was fined $280 after a trial in Wadena provincial court.
 
He was not injured in the collision.
 
Hartl drove across a train crossing near Foam Lake on 4 Jun 2014.
 
According to a comment he made to a witness at the scene, he didn't see the train coming, but visibility was good that day and the train's horn blew for 20 seconds before the collision, Judge Ross Green wrote in a decision issued last week.
 
When the train's engineer realized a collision was unavoidable, he activated the emergency brake, but the train struck the first of two grain trailers Hartl was pulling and took about a quarter of a mile to come to a stop.
 
According to a police news release, eight train cars went off the tracks during the collision, spilling a small amount of potash.
 
The question at Hartl's trial was whether his driving "was a departure from the standard that a reasonable and prudent driver would have observed" in the circumstances, and Green determined it was.
 
Green said he "cannot conclude that Hartl took reasonable care in looking for and listening for this train either as he approached the intersection or at the intersection."
 
Hannah Spray.