Police: Man Drove Around Gate, Hit by Train in W. Medford
The car was destroyed in the accident and the train sustained a few scrapes, police said.
A car was crushed in an accident with a train this morning at the High Street rail crossing after its driver went around the lowered crossing gates, according to transit police.
The man, who is about 60 years old, drove his Buick LeSabre with New Hampshire plates around the gates about 8 a.m. and was struck by an Amtrak Downeaster train headed for Boston, Deputy Transit Police Chief Robert Lenehan said Thursday morning.
"This fellow was the first person in line and apparently did not want to wait for the train to cross," Lenehan said.
The driver was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital to be treated for minor injuries, Lenehan said. The accident was cleared by 9:30 a.m., but it caused major delays to the Lowell commuter rail line, including the cancellation of several trains the morning.
The car was hit near the front side tire and was pushed about 30 feet into the flag guard's station, pushing the small structure off its foundation, Lenehan said. Amtrak trains, which do not stop in Medford, typically pass through the intersection at about 35 miles per hour, Lenehan said.
The car was totalled in the accident and the train sustained a few scrapes, Lenehan said.
"That's a lot of tons of steel, and it's always going to win," he said
The Federal Railroad Administration has raised issues with the safety of the intersection in the past, but Lenehan said there had been few recent issues there.
"I think this thing has been engineered about as well as it can be," he said.
READ MORE: Driver to be Issued Citation in Car vs. Train Accident in West Medford
Larry Cultrera
10:30 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
man, you cannot try to beat a train at a crossing like that. No brains for sure!
Pete Harmon
10:45 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Didn't they put in some kind of barriers to stop cars from going around the gate?
Jarret Bencks
12:49 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Center line barriers were installed on each side of the crossing last year in order to reinstate a train horn ban in the area. The barriers warn drivers of the intersection and prevent those waiting in line from driving into the other lane up to the rail crossing. In this case, according to police, the driver was the first car waiting at the crossing.
Joe
3:17 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
They shouldn't need barriers, that what the gates are. Common sense goes a long way but it is so scarce nowadays
BP
3:18 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
So by the inventory in the Federal Railroad-bought Association records this 40 mph train crossing the train shorts the circuit 25 seconds out (40 x 1.444 25 = feet) The lights go flash-flash ---the ding starts -ding-ding --- the gates start down. When the train was 20 seconds (40 x 1.444 X 20 = feet) out the gates must be down by Federal law. More time if the crossing is wider like this one.
Crossing # 054041E has 20,000 vehicles a day last put in by the state railroad people in 1999 (where are they sleeping?).
"""Center line barriers were installed on each side of the crossing last year""" Were are the pictures of the damaged center line barriers?
20,000 vehicles a day there should be like 50 witnesses. Where are their statements?
Why only use the railroads talkin head cop who is fired if he don't lie??
Peter Aufiero
4:13 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
no...just common sense...something he did not have
Jay
1:18 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
You can not fix stupid and this idiot is going to cost all of us time and money if they decide to change this intersection. It can be busy but it works fine as long as people use common sense.
There are gates, signals and bells - a train is coming - if people are going to break the law then they take their safety and others into their own hands. This guy should be arrested once he is done running up a huge hospital bill for being a complete jerk....
Anonymous
2:00 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
This guy should have his license revoked - if he doesn't respect his own safety he surely won't respect the safety of others. And he should have to be responsible for his own medical bill as well as the cost of damaged caused by his actions. Though you can't fix stupid - if we made doing stupid things very painful maybe more people would show better common sense.
Jay
2:51 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Agreed. It would be nice if the reporter on this could follow up with what happens to the driver. Once all is confirmed his name should be made public as well as the consequences.
Joe
3:18 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Hope the man is ok, but what a dumb move on his part
BP
3:42 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Google map (2007) shows a mickey mouse pedestrian crossing with no signals/gates like 200 feet up the track. How hard to bury a wire connected to the signals here? Is this pedestrian walk way still there since the train horns were squashed?
BP
3:52 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/RRDev/grade_crossing_inv_northernNE.pdf
054041E
46 054041E MA Middlesex BM MBTA 0000.00 Public At grade under
In the Federal Railroad-bought Association false records probably showed to Congress for the high speed rail all these track crossings are over/under passes.
BP
4:06 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Evidence let go
1. The train has video of this --- a public paid for thing ---Where is the video???
2. The train had a event recorder of brakes,lights, horns, etc...public paid for with humongous overcharges---Where are the event recorder readings???
3. The crossing signal housing has a event recorder with gate operation ---.public paid for with humongous overcharges---Where is the crossing house readings?
4. The crossing maintainer has a hand held that would show if the automated signals were calling him/her to come fix them. Where is the hand held???
5. The drug/alcohol tests on the train crew are?
Jaeger
7:55 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Wow
Meggle
9:55 am on Friday, August 17, 2012
What are you trying to prove, the train hit the car on purpose? This only just happened. Relax.
P/M Alec MacGregor
11:44 am on Friday, August 17, 2012
Wow, BP---easy up, eh? I walk/drive past this crossing multiple times every day, live in West Medford. The DownEaster is my young dog's favorite train to watch so I heard the impact and saw the aftermath. The comment of merit here today is "You can't fix stupid" . I've had cars honk and pass me on the left at a red light to take a right turn in front of me. At Arlington St. and Boston Ave, no less...God's truth, so? " "Can't fix stupid", that train crossing is as safe as can be short of an over/underpass..;^ )
And we won't get into that Buick LeSabre also being registered in NH with a Medford address listed as well...remember them good-ol'-days of false-registering the car in NH to avoid taxes? That fellow is in for a bit more trouble, aye.
BP
6:04 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
"""that train crossing is as safe as can be short of an over/underpass..;^ )""" Your right ---you can't fix stupid! I can sit in my hickerbilly rocker here in the Ozarks and see the brush needs removed, the illegal parking areas need remove, the stupid red clown shack needs removed, the crossing signal house needs to be a lot lower. Why???These signals are deadly junk which is what caused the collision to start with.
BP
1:26 am on Saturday, August 18, 2012
http://www.conwaydailysun.com/index.php/newsx/local-news/92023-train-081812
Conway man hurt in car, train collision in Massachusetts
Maybe he's like James Bond