News: Truck Accidents

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Truck Driver Fights for Life After Train Crash

Indiana State Police say that the train crossing has no crossing arms or warning lights.

Arnold Brandt, 65, was driving a tractor-trailer loaded with corn across the railroad tracks in Clymers. Witnesses say Brandt tried to get out of his truck after it stalled on the railroad tracks and was hit by the train. The crash threw Brandt onto a nearby pile of railroad timbers.

Brandt was flown to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne for treatment after the accident. He suffered severe head and internal injuries.

Norfolk Southern Train Hits Truck at Unprotected Crossing

An 18-wheeler hauling supplies to the site of the new Villa Rica, Georgia wastewater plant was hit by a train last week. This is the second vehicle-train accident in two months involving traffic to the site. The road into the plant – Barber Industrial Court – features the only railroad crossing in the city without a crossing arm gate.

Hundreds of construction workers pass down the road every day while the new wastewater plant is being built. The crash in July involved a construct ion worker.

A call to Norfolk Southern for comment was not returned.

Mississippi Train-Log Truck Accident

June 23, 2009

A Canadian National freight train crashed into a log truck in Perry County damaging nearly a dozen box cars and tankers filled with molten sulfur.

Mississippi Highway 198 was blocked for several hours following the accident.

Michael Pol, assistant to Southern District Commissioner Wayne Brown, said he lives near the scene of the accident and arrived shortly after the collision. The truck was southbound when the train hit it.

Pol said he contacted the Mississippi Department of Transportation rails division to report the incident. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality assisted in the cleanup of debris and spillage from tankers. According to Pol, molten sulfur is not toxic unless it catches fire, emitting an acrid smoke.

Truck Driver Didn't See, Hear Train

March 16, 2009

A Bib County, Georgia man suffered life-threatening injuries when a train smashed the truck he was driving in Smarr located in Monroe County.

Johnny Wynes, 71, was taken by helicopter to The Medical Center of Central Georgia. Monroe County EMS spokeman Shane Cook said Wynes is in stable condition. The Norfolk Southern Railroad train, which consisted of two engines and four box cars, derailed just past the crossing. The train crew of three was also taken to a hospital.

The accident happed at about 11:30 a.m. at the intersection of Rumble Road and U.S. 41.

Cook said he spoke briefly on the phone with Wynes after he was hospitalized. Wynes told him that he stopped at the crossing but did not see or hear the train. There are no gates at the crossing, which includes two parallel tracks. The track nearest Wynes was occupied by parked box cars extending up and down the track. If railroad cars or equipment are parked on a track in the area of a crossing, they should be far enough away from the crossing that they do not block the view of drivers looking for trains approaching on the second track. Adding flashing light signals and gates would provide a better warning of approaching trains.

Wynes' truck was destroyed and leaked diesel fuel, but the spill had been contained by 1:00 p.m. Tony Diaz witnessed the crash while working on a house across the street from the crossing. He said Wynes appeared to slow down as he approached the crossing but did not seem to see or hear the train. ''When he looked up, it was too late,'' Diaz said. The impact, he said, ''sounded about like two sticks of dynamite.''

Another man working nearby, Dino Malloy, said he was the first to arrive on the scene. Wynes was trapped in the cab of his truck but remained conscious and talking, Malloy said.