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Darwin Awards
2011 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Train vs. Truck- Train Wins

2011 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

I lived through this man's successful attempt to qualify for a Darwin Award back on 5/13- and yes it was Friday the 13th. I was riding the Metra train to downtown Chicago for work in the middle car. As the train was passing through the town of Mount Prospect, about 30 minutes out of Chicago, I

heard a loud bang and felt the train shake. The next thing I saw was a black cloud of smoke. The train quickly came to a halt as passengers on the lower level were panicking. They made for the doors the moment the train came to a complete stop. After exiting the train, I looked back to see the front car completely off the tracks and dented in several places and the side of the second car completely blackened. Looking further up the track I could see the reason for the incident- the scattered remains of a large dump truck were lying spread across the intersection that the train had just gone through. The engine and one of the front axles were several feet away from the main body of the truck, and the truck's cab had been completely severed from the rest of it and was lying about 100 feet away from the rear of the truck. I later found out that the driver of the dump truck, which had been carrying a full load of concrete slabs from a road construction site, had tried, unsuccessfully, to beat the train, even though the crossing arms were already down and the signal lights were in operation. Later that day when I got back to the office, the radio reports had obtained the background on the truck driver, who was killed on impact, and found that he had had numerous moving violations dating back more than 20 years. How anybody keeps a CDL with a record like that is beyond me.

Matt Briddell Darwin Award Witness/Survivor

More details in the official story: "A truck hauling chunks of concrete made an illegal left turn and drove around crossing gates before slamming into a Metra train in Mount Prospect this morning, officials say.

The truck driver, Kazimierz Karasek, 59, was killed. At least 26 passengers were taken to hospitals and 10 others were treated on the scene. Officials said none of the injuries aboard the train appeared life-threatening.

Karasek, of Prospect Heights, had been cited for more than 50 traffic violations, including a DUI, since 1986.

Police say he apparently disregarded a "No Left Turn" sign as well as downed gates and crossing lights, and crossed into the northbound lanes of Mount Prospect Road to get around the northern gate. That left the cab squarely on the tracks as the train blew through the intersection, and the trailer and cab bent like a jacknife, with the trailer hitting the train cars.

The train came to a stop after clearing the crossing, the second car black from soot because of fire from the truck. Listing to the side, the car's inside was a mess of jagged metal, riders' business papers and make-up, according to Des Plaines deputy fire chief Ron Eilken.

"It's amazing that no one got seriously hurt," he said.

The train, No. 636, was headed from Harvard when it hit the truck at about 8:40 a.m. near the Cumberland station in Mount Prospect. The train normally carries 850 people, Metra officials said.

Passengers said there was no warning before the collision.

"There was no horn, there was no braking, there was an explosion," said Sarah Flashing, who was headed to work in Park Ridge and sitting on the upper level of one of the lead cars. "I have never been in so much shock. I can’t stop crying."

Passengers popped out windows on the upper level to get out, witnesses said. "They were breaking the windows on the second floor of the train and jumping out of there," said Zack Ladner, 21, who lives four houses from the scene.

Several passengers said their first thought was a terrorist act. But Mount Prospect Police Commander John Wagner dismissed those fears. "It just appears to be a driver in a hurry," he said.

Flashing, 41, said the collision felt like "the train was on top of something. It shook terribly, from right to left, like we were going to fall on the tracks. . .I felt we were going to end up on the tracks.

"I was in the first car, in the back end of it, but in the first seat on the upper deck, so I could look down the stairs directly, and I could see flames where people were just standing [just before].

" I could hear the screams," she said. "There were people going out the windows."

Flashing said the second car of the train was scorched by flames. " I can’t believe no one was injured."

Jennifer Kimball, a lawyer from Palatine who works downtown, said she was in the upper deck of the first car when she felt something had gone wrong with the tracks. She saw a flash of red light outside the window, as the train kept moving, "almost choppy like a boat."

Passengers started to panic as the car began to fill up with smoke. They started moving to the front of the car, with some jumping out windows on both the first and second level. A grandmother with a young baby went out the window on the first level.

"It took a minute for the train to stop," she said, and when it did it was leaning to one side.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-metra-trains-stopped-after-collision-20110513,0,7326880.story

Submitted on 05/24/2011

Submitted by: Matt Briddell
Reference: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-metra-trains-stopped-after-collision-20

Copyright © 2011 DarwinAwards.com

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
Thanks, Matt, but this sort of thing is way too common. There are over 2000 train/pedestrian collisions every year in the US alone, many involving cars or trucks that accidentally or purposely drive onto tracks in front of an oncoming train.

Candi said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
What Bruce said.

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