HESR creams one on the midland sub in Bay County.
HESR creams one on the midland sub in Bay County.
According to T.V. 5 a guy in his 20's nearly cheated death in a train-car collision. The impact of the train was enough to roll his SUV. The impact occured at the intersection of faljole and midland roads in western bay county. Trains speeds through there I believe exceed 20 MPH. police are still on scene investigating. This area of track is the EX CMGN now HESR midland sub and it was proabally the DoW train that far west. I'll keep you updated if I hear anything more.
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OwlCaboose2853
- Railroadfan...fan
- Posts: 2176
- Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:17 pm
- Location: Chelsea
Bay City TV-5 and Midland Daily News
Car collides with train
http://www.wnem.com/global/video/popup/ ... d=24802248
and also, Midland Daily News
Midland man hurt in train accident
A 17-year-old Midland youth was injured when his vehicle collided with a train Sunday on Flajole Road and the railroad tracks north of Midland Road, reports the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
The driver, Nathan Schultz of Midland, was reported in good condition this morning at MidMichigan Medical Center. He was headed north on Flajole Road about 4:35 p.m. when the eastbound Huron Eastern Railroad train struck his vehicle. The train had four engines and no cargo cars.
Railroad crossing and yield signs marked the intersection, and the train’s whistle sounded. The train was traveling at 30 mph.
Schultz, who was wearing a seat belt, was trapped in his vehicle for a time and had to be extricated. The accident remains under investigation. Deputies said they do not believe alcohol was a factor. The engineer, Carl William Stieler, 51, is a Bay City resident.
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm ... l&xb=momiy
http://www.wnem.com/global/video/popup/ ... d=24802248
and also, Midland Daily News
Midland man hurt in train accident
A 17-year-old Midland youth was injured when his vehicle collided with a train Sunday on Flajole Road and the railroad tracks north of Midland Road, reports the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
The driver, Nathan Schultz of Midland, was reported in good condition this morning at MidMichigan Medical Center. He was headed north on Flajole Road about 4:35 p.m. when the eastbound Huron Eastern Railroad train struck his vehicle. The train had four engines and no cargo cars.
Railroad crossing and yield signs marked the intersection, and the train’s whistle sounded. The train was traveling at 30 mph.
Schultz, who was wearing a seat belt, was trapped in his vehicle for a time and had to be extricated. The accident remains under investigation. Deputies said they do not believe alcohol was a factor. The engineer, Carl William Stieler, 51, is a Bay City resident.
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm ... l&xb=momiy
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OwlCaboose2853
- Railroadfan...fan
- Posts: 2176
- Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:17 pm
- Location: Chelsea
No contest when a car hits a train
No contest when a car hits a train
Tuesday, December 14, 2004LaNIA COLEMAN
THE SAGINAW NEWS
http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index. ... 544430.xml
No contest when a car hits a train
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
LaNIA COLEMAN
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Sunday night, 17-year-old Nathan R. Schultz was driving north on Flajole north of Midland Road in Bay County.
About 8:30 p.m., his automobile hit one of four Huron Eastern & Eastern Railway Co. train engines with no freight cars that was traveling east, Bay County sheriff's deputies said.
There are no traffic gates or flashing lights at the intersection but it is marked with a crossing sign and a yield sign, deputies said.
Schultz, a Bay County resident, was trapped in the wreckage and he was wearing a seat belt. After rescue crews freed him from the auto, they took him to Mid-Michigan Medical Center in Midland, where doctors said his injuries were non-life threatening.
Meanwhile, in rural Bridgeport Township, the trains that pass Lyn Mora's rural home occasionally catch him by surprise.
"There have been times at night when I've driven up to the tracks and all of a sudden I realized there was a train in front of me," said the 41-year-old full-time Flint firefighter and paramedic.
As is common in many areas, passive signals -- non-electric devices such as yield signs -- mark the crossings where the tracks intersect with several roads as they run parallel to Blackmar.
Mora, like several who live near railroad crossings, says he would prefer that the tracks have lights, bells and gates. As an emergency responder who has seen the aftermath of car-train collisions, he'd like more active signals everywhere.
"Crossing gates are the best defense," he said.
His wish isn't likely to come true, railroad safety experts say.
Sobering statistics
Birch Run Village President Paul Moore says his community is more secure since its lone railroad crossing was fully equipped with flashers, bells and gates -- equipment referred to as active warning devices.
"You can't be too safe," Moore said.
But transportation safety experts say active devices are not the definitive solution to the car-train crash problem.
The National Transportation Safety Board says on average 50 percent of fatal car-train crashes occur at crossings equipped with some combination of active signals.
Most drivers involved in crashes at marked crossings fall into one of two categories: the motorist who is not paying attention or the impatient traveler who disregards the lights and/or drives around the gates, the safety agency says.
About two-thirds of all car-train crashes occur in daylight, and about a fourth involve cars hitting trains, reports Consolidated Rail Corp., a Philadelphia, Pa.-based freight company.
While most car-train crashes involve trains traveling at 35 mph or less, Conrail advises that a 100-car train traveling 50 mph can take one mile -- the length of 18 football fields -- to stop with the emergency brakes.
Since the average 100-car train weighs about 12 million pounds, and the average car weighs 4,000 pounds, a car-train collision produces the same effect as a meeting between a car and an aluminum can, safety experts say.
With roughly 75 percent of the nation's rail crossings having no gates, the responsibility falls to motorists to look out for trains.
These are the kinds of numbers that have prompted the Federal Railroad Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Operation Lifesaver, a national, nonprofit organization that promotes rail crossing safety, to put the onus on the motorists.
Operation Lifesaver's safety program, "Look, Listen & Live," advises motorists against dangerous behaviors including driving around gates and racing trains.
Not that simple
Some say safety tips only scratch the surface of the real problem.
"Even if people drive around the gates, at least the gates have forced them to stop and look," Mora said. "A lot of people don't notice the signs because they don't expect to see a stop sign in the middle of nowhere. And a lot of times, cars dart across the tracks so they won't have to stop for the train."
Passive warning devices often blend with the scenery, some say. And most people don't encounter railroad crossings often enough to remember to watch out for them every moment of every car ride.
Nick Wilkerson, 16, of Bridgeport Township lives across the street from the tracks that run parallel to Blackmar. The crossings are just yards from the stop signs that signal the point where Blackmar intersects with several crossroads.
"Sometimes, drivers are focusing on the stop signs (at the road intersections) and they don't notice the railroad crossings," Wilkerson said. "Sometimes they see the crossings but miss the stop signs."
Wilkerson said he has seen drivers race across the tracks to try to beat the train. He also has seen many occasions when the lights and bells activated when there were no trains in sight.
"You get used to driving over the tracks when there is no train, so you get out of the habit of looking for the train," he said. "When you see the lights come on so many times when there is no train, that makes it worse. I think a lot of people, though, just aren't paying attention."
Still, lights and bells and gates catch drivers' attention, particularly in urban and commercial districts chock-full of distractions such as other vehicles, business signs, pedestrians and traffic signals.
"The flashers and gates have made a difference," Birch Run's Moore said. "Safety is important to us. It can be a pretty busy intersection, and it's unique. On one side, Church Street goes south. But on the other, Maple goes north. If you're only paying attention to where you are going and trying to make the right turn and be in the right lane, you can miss the crossing."
A nearby school crosswalk adds pedestrian traffic to the cluttered junction.
Throw children, coffee, cellular telephones and CDs into the equation, and that's a lot of diversions.
In other areas, such as Oakley, dwindling train schedules have caused drivers to let their guard down.
Oakley has two railroad crossings. Both are equipped with flashers, although they're seldom used. Drivers usually don't worry about trains because they seldom see any.
"Once we had some kind of emergency on the tracks, and we were concerned about a train coming through," said Village Police Chief Gary Klein.
"We called and found out that the next train wasn't scheduled for seven days, so we had plenty of time to take care of whatever it was that was messed up."
Multiple tracks up the hazard quotient at some railroad crossings.
The tracks that criss-cross two roads near Molly Wicker's home worry the Carrollton Township woman. Wicker has lived on Sherman near Carrollton Road for 13 years. About 100 yards from her home, two sets of railroad tracks come together at angles that bisect the roads in three places. Flashers and bells mark two of the crossings, the third has only crossbucks -- the black-and-white, X-shaped warning signs. None has gates.
"A lot of people get confused and they think the train is on one of the other tracks," Wicker said. "I've seen a lot of close calls. It scares me all the time."
Multiple tracks at the same crossing are a prime reason that safety experts warn drivers not to proceed the until the lights have stopped flashing and the bells have stopped ringing. One train may have cleared the roadway, but another may approach from the opposite direction, unnoticed until it's too late.
The price of safety
Saginaw County has nearly 250 railroad crossings serving the Huron and Eastern, CSX, Central Michigan and Mid-Michigan railroads, state, county and local authorities advise. Only about 20 percent of those are equipped with some type of active warning device.
"You typically find automatic warning devices where the greatest risk is," said Warren Flatau, a Federal Railroad Administration public affairs specialist. "States generally outfit the crossings with the highest risk or hazard of collision."
Railroads do not determine which crossings get which types of warning signals. Those decisions are left to the state Departments of Transportation, but only after the department receives a request, usually from a municipal official, for a safety review.
"Anyone can request a review," said Jim Lehman, Saginaw County Road Commission engineer/manager . "MDOT's rail safety division will do a diagnostic team review of the intersection. They will look at how many trains cross, how many cars cross, the crash history of the crossing. Based on that information, MDOT determines what has to be done and whether there is any federal aid that can be used for it."
Other risk factors the review teams consider include train and vehicle speeds, line-of-sight obstructions and pedestrian traffic volume. Once a review team determines that a railroad crossing should have active warning devices, funding comes into play.
The cost to install gates, bells and lights is about $145,000, which doesn't include continuous maintenance costs, the National Transportation Safety Board says. Federal funds can pay about 70 to 90 percent of the installation, but local governments have to pick up the rest of the tab.
In comparison, crossbucks cost about $1,000. Other economical safety devices that experts are testing across the country include red strobe lights affixed to stop or yield signs, rumble strips placed on the approach to the crossing, and flexible delineators or reflective posts situated between traffic lanes on the approach.
Deadly encounters
Car-train crashes have killed two people this year in the Saginaw Valley.
Aug. 8, 41-year-old Julie Dolan of Beverly Hills, Mich., died in a fiery crash when a train struck her sport utility vehicle as she crossed the CSX Transportation Inc. railroad tracks on South Beyer just south of the outlet stores in Birch Run Township. The crossing is marked with black-and-white crossbucks and a yield sign.
Less than a month later, a 69-year-old Bad Axe man died when his pickup collided with a train hauling sugar beets in Huron County. Bryce E. Stambaugh struck the 28th car of the 35-car locomotive Oct. 5 on Wadsworth near Stambaugh in Bingham Township. A crash reports indicates the crossing's lights and bells were operating at the time of the crash.
The Saginaw Valley also saw several non-fatal car-train encounters this year. Among them:
Aug. 26, 40-year-old Gard A. Verbeke of Kawkawlin, and his 2-year-old daughter, suffered minor injuries when a Lake State Railroad Co. train struck their truck as Verbeke started across the tracks on Boutell near North Huron. The engineer, 26-year-old Charles Zelek of Pinconning, told police another car had crossed the tracks just moments before Verbeke's pickup entered the crossing.
May 27, 35-year-old Jeffery W. Vance of Midland narrowly escaped harm when his tanker truck struck a Tuscola & Saginaw Bay Co. train on M-46 near Luce in Gratiot County's Pine River Township.
Jan. 6, a 45-year-old Mayville man suffered minor injuries when he drove his pickup into the side of a moving train on M-15 near M-81 in Blumfield Township.
The Saginaw Valley had no fatal car-train collisions the previous three years, Saginaw News records show. There were three in 2000.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004LaNIA COLEMAN
THE SAGINAW NEWS
http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index. ... 544430.xml
No contest when a car hits a train
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
LaNIA COLEMAN
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Sunday night, 17-year-old Nathan R. Schultz was driving north on Flajole north of Midland Road in Bay County.
About 8:30 p.m., his automobile hit one of four Huron Eastern & Eastern Railway Co. train engines with no freight cars that was traveling east, Bay County sheriff's deputies said.
There are no traffic gates or flashing lights at the intersection but it is marked with a crossing sign and a yield sign, deputies said.
Schultz, a Bay County resident, was trapped in the wreckage and he was wearing a seat belt. After rescue crews freed him from the auto, they took him to Mid-Michigan Medical Center in Midland, where doctors said his injuries were non-life threatening.
Meanwhile, in rural Bridgeport Township, the trains that pass Lyn Mora's rural home occasionally catch him by surprise.
"There have been times at night when I've driven up to the tracks and all of a sudden I realized there was a train in front of me," said the 41-year-old full-time Flint firefighter and paramedic.
As is common in many areas, passive signals -- non-electric devices such as yield signs -- mark the crossings where the tracks intersect with several roads as they run parallel to Blackmar.
Mora, like several who live near railroad crossings, says he would prefer that the tracks have lights, bells and gates. As an emergency responder who has seen the aftermath of car-train collisions, he'd like more active signals everywhere.
"Crossing gates are the best defense," he said.
His wish isn't likely to come true, railroad safety experts say.
Sobering statistics
Birch Run Village President Paul Moore says his community is more secure since its lone railroad crossing was fully equipped with flashers, bells and gates -- equipment referred to as active warning devices.
"You can't be too safe," Moore said.
But transportation safety experts say active devices are not the definitive solution to the car-train crash problem.
The National Transportation Safety Board says on average 50 percent of fatal car-train crashes occur at crossings equipped with some combination of active signals.
Most drivers involved in crashes at marked crossings fall into one of two categories: the motorist who is not paying attention or the impatient traveler who disregards the lights and/or drives around the gates, the safety agency says.
About two-thirds of all car-train crashes occur in daylight, and about a fourth involve cars hitting trains, reports Consolidated Rail Corp., a Philadelphia, Pa.-based freight company.
While most car-train crashes involve trains traveling at 35 mph or less, Conrail advises that a 100-car train traveling 50 mph can take one mile -- the length of 18 football fields -- to stop with the emergency brakes.
Since the average 100-car train weighs about 12 million pounds, and the average car weighs 4,000 pounds, a car-train collision produces the same effect as a meeting between a car and an aluminum can, safety experts say.
With roughly 75 percent of the nation's rail crossings having no gates, the responsibility falls to motorists to look out for trains.
These are the kinds of numbers that have prompted the Federal Railroad Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Operation Lifesaver, a national, nonprofit organization that promotes rail crossing safety, to put the onus on the motorists.
Operation Lifesaver's safety program, "Look, Listen & Live," advises motorists against dangerous behaviors including driving around gates and racing trains.
Not that simple
Some say safety tips only scratch the surface of the real problem.
"Even if people drive around the gates, at least the gates have forced them to stop and look," Mora said. "A lot of people don't notice the signs because they don't expect to see a stop sign in the middle of nowhere. And a lot of times, cars dart across the tracks so they won't have to stop for the train."
Passive warning devices often blend with the scenery, some say. And most people don't encounter railroad crossings often enough to remember to watch out for them every moment of every car ride.
Nick Wilkerson, 16, of Bridgeport Township lives across the street from the tracks that run parallel to Blackmar. The crossings are just yards from the stop signs that signal the point where Blackmar intersects with several crossroads.
"Sometimes, drivers are focusing on the stop signs (at the road intersections) and they don't notice the railroad crossings," Wilkerson said. "Sometimes they see the crossings but miss the stop signs."
Wilkerson said he has seen drivers race across the tracks to try to beat the train. He also has seen many occasions when the lights and bells activated when there were no trains in sight.
"You get used to driving over the tracks when there is no train, so you get out of the habit of looking for the train," he said. "When you see the lights come on so many times when there is no train, that makes it worse. I think a lot of people, though, just aren't paying attention."
Still, lights and bells and gates catch drivers' attention, particularly in urban and commercial districts chock-full of distractions such as other vehicles, business signs, pedestrians and traffic signals.
"The flashers and gates have made a difference," Birch Run's Moore said. "Safety is important to us. It can be a pretty busy intersection, and it's unique. On one side, Church Street goes south. But on the other, Maple goes north. If you're only paying attention to where you are going and trying to make the right turn and be in the right lane, you can miss the crossing."
A nearby school crosswalk adds pedestrian traffic to the cluttered junction.
Throw children, coffee, cellular telephones and CDs into the equation, and that's a lot of diversions.
In other areas, such as Oakley, dwindling train schedules have caused drivers to let their guard down.
Oakley has two railroad crossings. Both are equipped with flashers, although they're seldom used. Drivers usually don't worry about trains because they seldom see any.
"Once we had some kind of emergency on the tracks, and we were concerned about a train coming through," said Village Police Chief Gary Klein.
"We called and found out that the next train wasn't scheduled for seven days, so we had plenty of time to take care of whatever it was that was messed up."
Multiple tracks up the hazard quotient at some railroad crossings.
The tracks that criss-cross two roads near Molly Wicker's home worry the Carrollton Township woman. Wicker has lived on Sherman near Carrollton Road for 13 years. About 100 yards from her home, two sets of railroad tracks come together at angles that bisect the roads in three places. Flashers and bells mark two of the crossings, the third has only crossbucks -- the black-and-white, X-shaped warning signs. None has gates.
"A lot of people get confused and they think the train is on one of the other tracks," Wicker said. "I've seen a lot of close calls. It scares me all the time."
Multiple tracks at the same crossing are a prime reason that safety experts warn drivers not to proceed the until the lights have stopped flashing and the bells have stopped ringing. One train may have cleared the roadway, but another may approach from the opposite direction, unnoticed until it's too late.
The price of safety
Saginaw County has nearly 250 railroad crossings serving the Huron and Eastern, CSX, Central Michigan and Mid-Michigan railroads, state, county and local authorities advise. Only about 20 percent of those are equipped with some type of active warning device.
"You typically find automatic warning devices where the greatest risk is," said Warren Flatau, a Federal Railroad Administration public affairs specialist. "States generally outfit the crossings with the highest risk or hazard of collision."
Railroads do not determine which crossings get which types of warning signals. Those decisions are left to the state Departments of Transportation, but only after the department receives a request, usually from a municipal official, for a safety review.
"Anyone can request a review," said Jim Lehman, Saginaw County Road Commission engineer/manager . "MDOT's rail safety division will do a diagnostic team review of the intersection. They will look at how many trains cross, how many cars cross, the crash history of the crossing. Based on that information, MDOT determines what has to be done and whether there is any federal aid that can be used for it."
Other risk factors the review teams consider include train and vehicle speeds, line-of-sight obstructions and pedestrian traffic volume. Once a review team determines that a railroad crossing should have active warning devices, funding comes into play.
The cost to install gates, bells and lights is about $145,000, which doesn't include continuous maintenance costs, the National Transportation Safety Board says. Federal funds can pay about 70 to 90 percent of the installation, but local governments have to pick up the rest of the tab.
In comparison, crossbucks cost about $1,000. Other economical safety devices that experts are testing across the country include red strobe lights affixed to stop or yield signs, rumble strips placed on the approach to the crossing, and flexible delineators or reflective posts situated between traffic lanes on the approach.
Deadly encounters
Car-train crashes have killed two people this year in the Saginaw Valley.
Aug. 8, 41-year-old Julie Dolan of Beverly Hills, Mich., died in a fiery crash when a train struck her sport utility vehicle as she crossed the CSX Transportation Inc. railroad tracks on South Beyer just south of the outlet stores in Birch Run Township. The crossing is marked with black-and-white crossbucks and a yield sign.
Less than a month later, a 69-year-old Bad Axe man died when his pickup collided with a train hauling sugar beets in Huron County. Bryce E. Stambaugh struck the 28th car of the 35-car locomotive Oct. 5 on Wadsworth near Stambaugh in Bingham Township. A crash reports indicates the crossing's lights and bells were operating at the time of the crash.
The Saginaw Valley also saw several non-fatal car-train encounters this year. Among them:
Aug. 26, 40-year-old Gard A. Verbeke of Kawkawlin, and his 2-year-old daughter, suffered minor injuries when a Lake State Railroad Co. train struck their truck as Verbeke started across the tracks on Boutell near North Huron. The engineer, 26-year-old Charles Zelek of Pinconning, told police another car had crossed the tracks just moments before Verbeke's pickup entered the crossing.
May 27, 35-year-old Jeffery W. Vance of Midland narrowly escaped harm when his tanker truck struck a Tuscola & Saginaw Bay Co. train on M-46 near Luce in Gratiot County's Pine River Township.
Jan. 6, a 45-year-old Mayville man suffered minor injuries when he drove his pickup into the side of a moving train on M-15 near M-81 in Blumfield Township.
The Saginaw Valley had no fatal car-train collisions the previous three years, Saginaw News records show. There were three in 2000.