Emeryville Police Officers responded to a vehicle versus train collision at the 67th Street crossing at about 11:04 p.m. last night. Miraculously, there were no reported injuries as a result of this collision.
The driver of the vehicle was following directions via a GPS navigation app when he inadvertently made a turn onto the tracks. Once the driver of the vehicle realized what had happened, he was too far down the tracks and his vehicle became stuck.
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The occupants quickly exited the vehicle and stood off to the side waiting for assistance. Shortly after, an Amtrak train collided into the disabled vehicle. While the speed of the train was slow, the damage to the vehicle was significant.
Both Amtrak Police and Union Pacific Police officers responded to the scene to investigate. The initial investigation noted that poor visibility due to the weather conditions were likely to blame and that drugs or alcohol were not a factor.
Union Pacific Police will be the primary investigating agency of this collision moving forward.
This is why we have no need for drivetless cars
Glad that no one was hurt and that we are getting safer crossings for the “quiet zone”!
Took some streetview pics to show my transit friends this (mostly because we feel it’s ridiculous that people complain about how “unnecessary” it is for the trains to sound their horns at the crossing at night) and it’s really clear that this isn’t a very easy to figure out intersection in low visibility, especially if it’s raining at night. You have to pretty much wait on the tracks to turn onto Christie, the few times I’ve had to do it I was always nervous. There’s not enough lighting to show WHERE it’s road and where it’s track. Adding more lighting should be an easy fix to make this so much safer
And the ridiculous amount of Train Whistling helped in this case how ??
Can’t agree more, all that whistling did not prevent the collision thus proving how ineffective whistling is.
I seen a vehicle stuck and the driver talking to a person in a Prius around 9pm that night off of the 67th crossing wonder if it was the same one. But the time states 11pm? Also seen EPD arrive shortly after I passed over the 67th crossing.
Sounds like some folks are against the train whistles! If a car is stuck on the tracks train operators cannot help but run into the car!
Tnak God the passengers were able to get out of the car in time.
Jeffrey Dahmer found squirrels in the frig. Guess the local/state/and $1.6 BILLION a year FRA are nincompoops and everybody self investigates.
[…] around the tracks appear to be on the rise including a vehicle that was struck due to poor visibility earlier this year and person that was struck back in January, 2018. We have […]