Western Railroad Discussion > Freight train hits catering truck in Plano

Freight train hits catering truck in Plano
Driver was stopped on tracks; traffic is snarled for almost 2 hours
12:50 PM CST on Saturday, January 31, 2004
By TIM WYATT / The Dallas Morning News

A southbound freight train clipped a catering truck straddling the railroad
tracks Friday afternoon, snarling midafternoon traffic for almost two hours
on the east side of Plano.

Plano police said the train struck a Sunshine Catering truck headed west at
Plano Parkway near the Central Expressway overpass about 2:45 p.m. The truck
had been unable to clear the tracks because of heavy traffic stopped at a
red light.

A man and two women, whom police declined to identify, were in the truck
when the train hit the back of their truck and spun the vehicle around. One
woman suffered minor injuries and was taken to a Plano hospital, police
said.

The collision also knocked a semi-truck in front of the catering truck into
a passenger van carrying four people, three of whom were taken to hospitals
with minor injuries.

Plano Sgt. Erin Thornton said the stopped train caused a "serious traffic
snarl" across several major arteries from Plano Parkway to Avenue N for more
than 90 minutes before rescue workers cleared the scene. The train was
pulling more than 80 cars at the time of the accident.

One woman riding in the catering truck was visibly shaken but refused
medical treatment. Witnesses said the driver of the catering truck tried to
push the truck in front of it forward to get away from the train, causing
most of the damage to its front end.

Katie Boswell of Allen was heading north on the service road next to Central
Expressway when traffic also stopped her on the rail crossing there. She
could see the oncoming train and took action.

"I stepped on the gas and jumped the tracks pretty quick," she said. "I
thought I was going to die. I seriously thought I was going to get hit."

Staff writer Lee Powell contributed to this report.

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/city/collin/stories/013104dnccotrainwreck.5acd4.html

Looks like more candidates for a Darwin award. Gee, maybe next time these Bozos will use a little common sense all well as paying attention to their state motor vehicle operators manual which will tell them that you don't start across a railroad crossing unless you can do so without stopping and without changing gears before clearing the crossing.