Texas train hits veteran parade truck

BBC News - Texas train hits veteran parade truck, killing four

A freight train has crashed into a parade float in Texas, killing four people and injuring 16 others.

The crash happened at a rail crossing in the city of Midland, as the flatbed truck was on its way to an event honouring wounded US veterans.

The crossing gate and lights were reportedly working and an investigation is under way. One eyewitness said the float became stuck at the crossing.

The veterans and relatives were heading to a banquet, which has been cancelled.

Those killed were Marine Chief Warrant Officer Gary Stouffer, 37, Army Sgt Maj Lawrence Boivin, 47, Army Sgt Joshua Michael, 34 and Army Sgt Maj William Lubbers, 43.

One veteran and three civilian spouses remained in hospital on Friday, with one spouse in critical condition.

 

Yes, this is a sad outcome to an event meant to honor the vets return. Having donated a small (3/4 ton flat bed) truck for a parade, and driven it in same I can tell you from first hand experience that the ability to "see" out is terrible what with bunting, crepe paper, flags, and other crud hung on the vehicle. If there was a band playing and lots of shouting and cheering going on, hearing might have also been a problem for the driver. I had heard of this on the "online" news, but hadn't really looked into it much as I simply made the mistake of assuming it was a real "float", not a flat-bed low boy as was the case.

Not making excuses here. What amazes me is that I would doubt that Union Pacific train coming through that crossing at that time was a fluke, why the parade wasn't timed for "after" the freight train passed is beyond me. Why take the chance of anything going wrong? Engines stall, run out of fuel, transmissions can fail, all kinds of mechanical wrongs can happen, and while they are "rare" it seems they happen at the worst possible times more often than not. Since the "float" was really a low-boy flat bed being pulled by a semi-tractor, as the photo in the fist picture implies, then all kinds of other possibilities open up. Pro-drivers are rated at different things, and "hauling people" is a separate rating from hauling machinery or other inanimate "things". I wish I knew if it was a tractor pulling a low-boy, or a regular truck with a flat-bed. Those would be entirely different scenarios, and I wonder if that was the regular driver of that unit? If not the driver may have mis-estimated how much time he had to get that long a trailer over the crossing. The driver couldn't really accelerate to speed up his crossing since he was hauling "people", and since it appears the tractor was clear that would have been his only option. Truly a sad affair that could have been avoided.

At any rate, here is a link to the latest on this tragic episode in Midland Tx.

Goto:

Texas veterans float entered rail crossing after warning: NTSB - Yahoo! News

 

And here is some more, and most recent. Now, when you read this keep in mind just how "long" twelve seconds is in reality, that is when the front of the tractor started into the crossing, the bars were coming down, but not DOWN. I hold the driver responsible for the most part, but second I hold the parade planners for not timing the thing to happen BEFORE or AFTER a Union Pacific freight train rumbles through town.

Goto:

NTSB: Warning signals activated before vets' float pulled onto train tracks - U.S. News

 

Here is the latest on this parade debacle. It isn't over by any means, and there are some questions still to be answered; why was the device activated at the state minimum of 20 seconds, instead of the stadard 30? That extra ten seconds before the train arrived may have made a real difference to the second flatbed in the parade.

Goto:

No Charges For Texas Float Driver, Dale Andrew Hayden, In Crash That Killed Vets

 

The moment the lights flash and the crossing bar begins to come down, the driver of any vehicle must stop. Or pay the consequences.

 

It's Flesh vs steel. What a tragic and sad event .

 

In a bull nose Pete (the tractor pulling the flat), when the lights started to flash his cab was past them, the bars came down behind his cab twenty seconds before the train hit. I doubt he could have sped up to clear the tracks or have stopped before the event started to evolve without harming his unfortunate parade riders. Just being second in line with one truck cleared didn't help either, he couldn't very well speed up and drive into the back of the other flatbed could he? An unfortunate set of timings all around, I still think they should have timed the event for AFTER that particular Union Pacific train had passed. I still don't understand why you would plan a parade through town when a scheduled train is coming through. That seems rather thoughtless to me.