Freight train strikes rig that became stuck on railroad tracks
DAYTON — Michigan truck driver Brian Mosley watched, powerless, Monday as a freight train slammed into his tractor-trailer rig stuck on railroad tracks at the Irwin Street crossing near Springfield Street.
“I stood there and watched the train coming for two minutes,” Mosley said. “There was nothing I could do. Superman didn’t come and save the day.”
Mosley, driving a rig for Mosley Family Trucking out of North Adams, Mich., said he was carrying a load of rolled steel for a Springfield Street business located near the crash site.
The truck driver said he had called the company for directions minutes earlier while driving on Interstate 75.
“Before I realized it, I was on the tracks,” Mosley said.
The trailer’s low floor became stuck. The truck driver said he tried to move the rig forward, but it wouldn’t budge. Police were on the scene about 9:35 a.m. when the railroad crossing gates came down. They warned Mosley to get out of the truck.
Would this be classified as one of those grade crossing collisions where no one is at fault? This trucker was in an unfamiliar area, though it makes me wonder if there were signs indicating that the grade crossing was steep or if he should have been paying close attention as he approached the crossing.
We had a similar type of collision here in Florida back in the 80s in which a semi-truck with a low clearance trailer became stuck at a grade crossing and was hit by train. Here in Florida I’ve seen a number of grade crossings that are steep enough that someone riding a motorcycle at high speed could become airborne! Low trailer trucks could become stuck, though these crossing are usually in rural areas.
Anyone know what was powering the train? Since it was only 11 cars long, I wonder if it was a Geep or Switcher.
Trucker is at fault . (With a big assist from the idiot street maintenance and design folks who did not heed the AASHTO manual)
Trucker is supposed to know the clearance limitations (above and below) of his rig. JoeKoh has well documented a certain low underpass that eats trucks regularly. Kinda sounds like he snagged the rail crossing with the feet of his jackstands which were not raised all the way (?) as this was not a lowboy trailer???
Remember though that most professional truckers are concientious folk. Hurting people would be the furthest thing from their minds.
It is the proportionally few careless truck drivers that cause the public to look at the entire industry in a negative light (just as with the railroad industry). The trucks hit by trains that were caught on videos and seen worldwide are good examples of this.
A friend of mine from Church has been driving rigs for a year now and his employer tracks his moves via GPS as well as computer logs on the newer trucks. Because of the costs of new trucks and high insurance, truckers today have to be more cautious than ever if they want to keep working. Independent truckers that own their own rigs are not off the hook either. Even minor accidents on their records hurt them when it comes time for insurance renewal.
Interesting flip to this coin is the amount of incredibly “stupid, arrogant” manuevers that automobile and SUV drivers do on the interstate that baffles even the simplest of minds. At least two semi-truck related accidents that occured here in Florida in the past couple of months were caused by idiots cutting in front of or smashing head on into the big trucks.
If he could see the train coming for two minutes, then it seems that the engineer could see that the crossing was blocked. And an eleven car train certainly isn’t going to take a mile to stop. Why do you suppose that the train was unable to stop in time to avoid hitting the truck?
When I read that story I was wondering about the timing too. The truck driver was not familiar with the area so I’m guessing he had trouble giving the police the correct location when he called it in. Wouldn’t the police dispatcher be able to get at least the general area and determine the railroad in that area? It would have taken police at least a few minutes to get to the scene and everbody at the scene watched the training coming for another couple of minutes. Sounds like some bad all around communicating to me. I’ll take a shot in the dark here and say that because the truck driver was bringing steel rolls into the area, the local freight train might have been carrying steel products out. Was this a main track? Or, some local / industry track? How fast could an 11 car local be going that it took over two minutes to stop?
Even simpler…Did it dawn on the trucker to use the number on the x-ing panic sign posted at the crossing along with the DOT #? …the more I hear about this yoyo trucker, the more I’m disappointed.
A friend of a friend had same thing happened to his truck. He set out flares, but DUHH.
He set them on the road and not the tracks. This was before cell phones. The train came around the curve nearly thirty minutes after he got stuck.
I wondered about the 2 minutes too. I’m sure it was a lot less. It just seemed to take forever to happen.
I also love this quote:
“Rudy Husband, spokesman for the railroad, said freight trains are not required to stop as they approach a grade crossing.”
I’m sure the reporter asked why the train did not stop at the crossing. Rest assured, there will be a committee of concerned citizens petitioning for a four way stop signal, or at least stop signs, at the crossing.
Being a member of the trucking companies family he won’t be given his deserved punishment…Firing … as this form of employment doesn’t suit his skill set.
Look up in the bottom of any number of urban bridges and you might see scrape marks. Who knows I might put a few there myself. But stuck? No, never stuck.
Off topic a while back here in wisconsin on I-43 the wright st over pass. I belave if they have not fixed it yet you can still see the damage if you are in the right lane. Northbound A oversized truck carrying a crane struck an over pass taking a chunk of metal out of the bridge and for a long time after that the Dept of transportion was investgating the crash. And trying to find out what company did it so they could pay for the repairs of the bridge. Also I know as you come into milwaukee from like New Berlin there is a sign on I-43 Northbound that will flash at trucks if they are to high for the 116thst overpass and to have them exit at Layton Ave. Cause for a long time that was happening at that overpass to where trucks were hitting it and taking out chunks of bridge each time they hit. So anywho maybe railroads should put up signs saying that if a truck is to low to go around you know like if it is a elavated crossing like the one in this story. So when a truck comes up to a crossing the sign will light up and low clearance use diffrent route. Or something like that