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Train Hits Veterans Parade Trailer In Texas

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Here is a carefully worded description of the crash event as told by the NTSB: “The NTSB said 20 seconds before the collision, bells and lights activated on the crossing. 13 seconds before the crash happened, the gates started to descend. Then, 12 seconds prior, the front of the truck crossed in front of the train.” When you add to that, their independent statement that the truck entered the crossing 7 seconds after activation of the signals, the whole piece of information becomes clear.  The front of the truck was crossing the track one second after the gate started to descend.  That would have brought the gate down onto the trailer, or possibly it struck the top of the truck cab first, and then dropped all the way down behind the cab as the cab passed. In one news report, it said that the sheriff was right behind the second float, and the squad car dash cam caught the whole thing. It raises some questions about the crossing and the circumstances:  I can see how a driver being about to enter the crossing, intent on the truck ahead, might have missed the activation of the signals.  The one on his or her side would have been right alongside of him or her.  The opposite signal would have been easier to observe illumination, but that signal was also offset to the more probable straight ahead line of sight.   The crossing was in a quiet zone, so no horn warning accompanied the signal activation to provide supplementary warning.  The engineer blew the horn as the quite zone rules allow for emergencies, but by the time he did, time was very short for the truck driver to do escape.  The news says that the driver may not have heard the horn because the cops were sounding their sirens in celebration of the parade.  But again, that point would be moot since the crossing is quiet.  HOWEVER, if the crossing had bells, the cop sirens might have drowned out the bell sound.  And the bell sound may have been precisely the thing that would have caught the driver’s attention 7 seconds before he or she drove ahead onto the crossing.  Does anybody know whether that crossing had bells?
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