Shelby teens escape injury in crash with slow-moving locomotive
A 17-year-old Shelby driver and a teen passenger escaped injuries in a car collision with a slow-moving locomotive, a police report released Monday shows.
The crash occurred around 7:25 a.m. May 2 in the area of Curtis Drive and Goodyear Road as an Ashland Railway locomotive traveling at 5 mph was crossing the road after unhooking several railcars at a nearby warehouse, the traffic crash report shows.
"That vehicle was struck and briefly" dragged “before dislodging," police said. Two men, ages 54 and 20, were on the locomotive. Neither was hurt.
The crossing is clearly marked, but there are no crossing arms, police said.
The 2011 Toyota Camry was heading north and was approaching the railroad crossing on Curtis Drive at Goodyear Drive when the train engine began moving west to east, blocking the roadway and using audible signals, the report shows.
The car "attempted to go around" the train engine, "off road into the gravel and was struck," the report adds.
Initial accounts varied, the police report showed.
The car driver and his 17-year-old passenger reported approaching the tracks at about 15 mph.
"They heard the audible signal, slowed down to stop but could not determine where the sound was coming from," the report states.
They reported that the car "eventually stopped in the road, not realizing they stopped directly on the tracks. By then it was too late and was struck by the train from west to east," the report added.
Police later spoke with a witness at a nearby business, Cooper Enterprises, which has an open garage door, providing a view of the area where the crash occurred.
The employee told police that he "observed the train was already blocking half of the roadway while making six audible signals," the report says.
"The train nearly blocked the whole roadway" when the car "approached quickly, faster than usual traffic, and tried to slip around the east side of the train, the driver's right side" and attempted "to go around," police said of their interview with the witness.
Based on the witness account, Shelby police cited the car driver.
The citation will accompany a mandatory court date in Richland County Juvenile Court.
The car sustained functional damage to the left front. The locomotive was not damaged.