WESTLOCK – A commercial driver who police say is “lucky” to have escaped injury following a minor Monday-morning collision between a truck and train at the Highway 18 CN Rail crossing in Westlock faces a small fine.
Westlock RCMP Detachment acting-commander Cpl. Riley Sutherland said that at 9:45 a.m., Feb. 13, they were called after a medium-duty commercial truck travelling west tried to cross the CN tracks on 100th Street (Highway 18) and 108th Avenue and was clipped by a slow-moving train heading south.
“The lights were flashing and the driver of the vehicle looked and didn’t think the train was coming and proceeded and the train ran into the box portion of the truck,” said Sutherland Feb. 16. “The train was moving very slowly … I’ve been to ones where the train was moving at normal speed and it’s way worse than what I saw. The driver is very lucky the train wasn’t going fast and that the cab of the vehicle had already passed the tracks.”
Sutherland didn’t have a damage estimate for the truck or note any injuries to the truck driver, but said the man faces a $324 fine under the Traffic Safety Act for failing to proceed safely after stopping at a railway crossing.
In a Feb. 15 e-mail, CN Rail media relations Julien Bédard did not respond to a question of whether there’ll be an internal investigation and would only say that “RCMP are in charge of the investigation and have all the details regarding this incident” and that “CN fully collaborates with authorities for their investigation when this type of incidents happen.”
Crossing tips
According to stats provided by Operation Lifesaver, every year more than 100 Canadians are seriously injured or killed as the result of railway crossing or trespassing incidents, noting that most collisions between vehicles and trains happen within 40 kilometres of the motorist’s home and 66 per cent happen at crossings with active warning devices (gates, lights, bells).
They also state that a motorist is 40 times more likely to die in a collision involving a train than in one with another motor vehicle — there are roughly 40,000 railway crossings and 45,000 kilometres of active track across Canada.
When a train is passing through a crossing, or the gates and warning signals are activated, they recommend stopping behind any gates or stop lines — or no closer than five metres from the nearest rail — and wait for the train to pass. Drivers and pedestrians should only cross after the warning signals have stopped and they are certain no other trains are approaching, from either direction, on any track.
Finally, they recommend staying at a safe distance from trains and off-railway property and tracks, never use train tracks as a shortcut and to always obey railway signs and signals.
