An Amtrak train slammed into a Jeep that was stuck on the tracks at a railroad crossing. The car-train wreck occurred at the intersection of Highway 52 and Redbank Road in Goose Creek, South Carolina (SC).
The driver of the Jeep was taken to the hospital with injuries, as were three other people involved in the rail crossing crash. A witness quoted by Live5news.com said the car-train accident happened because the traffic signal on Redbank Road stayed green even though the railroad crossing arms were coming down. Three cars reportedly got through the crossing, but the Jeep was blocked in and remained on the tracks. When the train crashed into the Jeep, it spun into an Oldsmobile, which pushed a Ford Focus into a Toyota Highlander.
Many questions need to be answered about this South Carolina railroad crossing crash, but one in particular that warrants a great deal of investigation is why the crossing arms started to come down when the traffic signal turned green. Was this just an unfortunate coincidence or a systemic error? The crossing where this wreck occurred has been the site of 17 accidents since the 1970s, and, according to the Federal Railroad Administration, four of those accidents led to a loss of life.
PA