Driver escapes before train smashes into truck in TX

A fast moving train slammed into a pickup truck apparently after an accident that spun the truck onto the tracks.

The train never even slowed down.

KABAMMMMMM! 😬

No one in the truck, but somebody was killed in the accident on the road.


Driver escapes before train smashes into truck in TX

The Texas Department of Public Safety was investigating a fatal crash in Odessa involving multiple vehicles, followed by train collision, on Wednesday, April 19, local officials said. Footage posted to Facebook by the City of Odessa shows a speeding train collide with a pickup truck after a deadly road crash near West Murphy Street. The road crash involved a minivan and pickup truck. “As a result, the truck ended up on the train tracks and was hit by the train,” the city said, adding that the person inside the truck was able to escape before it was hit. One person in the minivan died, the city said. Credit: Odessa Fire Rescue via Storyful

Terrible.

a reply to: xuenchen

Ah, Midland Odessa area in the Permian Basin where the air smells like oil.
This happens from time to time; usually caused by someone unaware or not paying attention.

ETA to add an interesting fact about Odessa:

Odessa was established in 1881 as a railroad construction campsite on the Texas and Pacific Railroad. It is believed that Odessa was named in 1884. Records state that the name was acquired from founding promoters that thought that the wide flat prairies of the local terrain resembled the good wheat country like Odessa, Russia, which was the wheat distribution center of the world.

( now Ukraine)

odessachamber.com...

scalar.usc.edu...

a reply to: xuenchen

What do you mean, "The train never even slowed down."

He will be stopped in a couple of miles from that speed and load.

He probably saw the driver of the truck get out and did not want to damage the train any more than was already inevitable. That many flat spots on the wheels would be very expensive to fix. Also, when you lock the wheels down, it takes longer to stop.

a reply to: beyondknowledge2

I simply can’t, for the life of me, understand how it is 2023 and we still have no nationwide rail safety/warning system nor a modern state of the art braking system which requires just…say, five football fields. If freight strapped in correctly and belts on laps and/or across chest, that would not be anything neck-breaking or human slingshotting.

a reply to: xuenchen

Scratch one telephone pole

Cheers

From the start of the video it was 3 seconds before impact. The accident could have happened a second before video start, not sure. A train cannot stop on a dime. It takes a train about 2 miles to stop, going that fast. And trains are sometimes a mile+ long. The engineer could not have seen the truck in time to bring the train to a stop before hitting it. The high pitched squeal sounds like the brakes to me. You can hear it about 8-9 seconds in.

originally posted by: AlexandrosTheGreat
a reply to: beyondknowledge2

I simply can’t, for the life of me, understand how it is 2023 and we still have no nationwide rail safety/warning system nor a modern state of the art braking system which requires just…say, five football fields. If freight strapped in correctly and belts on laps and/or across chest, that would not be anything neck-breaking or human slingshotting.

we used to but the rail companies kept lobbying for deregulation, our government is barely functional and basically does what corporations tell them to, not the other way around.

originally posted by: AlexandrosTheGreat
a reply to: beyondknowledge2

I simply can’t, for the life of me, understand how it is 2023 and we still have no nationwide rail safety/warning system nor a modern state of the art braking system which requires just…say, five football fields. If freight strapped in correctly and belts on laps and/or across chest, that would not be anything neck-breaking or human slingshotting.

I live in the country and you wouldn’t believe how many train crossings are like a game of chicken.

I grew up in Europe so it was drilled into me the danger of trains.
Here we have so many that don’t even have guards. There is one in particular… I know it’s an accident waiting to happen.
The crossing is a little raised and the way the train arrives is hidden, so if you don’t pay attention…….
🚊

originally posted by: namehere

originally posted by: AlexandrosTheGreat
a reply to: beyondknowledge2

I simply can’t, for the life of me, understand how it is 2023 and we still have no nationwide rail safety/warning system nor a modern state of the art braking system which requires just…say, five football fields. If freight strapped in correctly and belts on laps and/or across chest, that would not be anything neck-breaking or human slingshotting.

we used to but the rail companies kept lobbying for deregulation, our government is barely functional and basically does what corporations tell them to, not the other way around.

What deregulations would have caused this or saved it? 😀