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2011 Slush Pile

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At-Risk Survivor, training

2011 Reader Submission
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A Bradford County teen who survived being hit from behind by a train on Sunday evening is calling himself “very lucky.”

Although his bike was destroyed, Justin Taylor, 19, said he escaped with a badly bruised right elbow.

The Starke Police Department reported that Taylor was walking his bicycle northbound on the train tracks near Jackson Street around 5:30 p.m. when the incident happened.

“I was taking a short cut to the store, which is not something I do all the time - it's just a once-in-a-while sort of thing,” Taylor said Monday morning. “When I was coming up to the tracks, a train went by me, so I figured it would be all right to walk on the tracks.”

According to Taylor, he was guiding his bike along the ties outside one of the rails with the bike close to the steel rail.

Police Capt. Barry Warren said the engineer operating a northbound CSX train told investigators he blew the train's horn several times, but Taylor never acknowledged hearing the horn and kept walking.

“I heard the horn,” Taylor said, “but I thought it was from the train that just went by me so I kept on walking and never really looked back. I didn't think I was going to get hit.”

Taylor said he realized the train was coming up from behind him when he got hit. The impact destroyed his Huffy bicycle, which landed about 20 yards from the point of impact.

“If I had been where my bike was, I'm not sure what would have happened to me” Taylor said. “I know I'm very lucky.”

Taylor was not sure if he was injured by his bike or the train.

Warren said the engineer was also uncertain about exactly what the train hit.

“The engineer told us he was not sure if the train hit the bike or the rider but that he had sounded the horn several times and the the guy never looked back to see where it was coming from,” Warren said

Taylor was taken at Shands at Starke, where he was told he had not broken any bones but his elbow was badly bruised. He went home wearing a sling.

Taylor, an unemployed man who moved to the Starke area a couple of years ago from Jacksonville and dropped out of high school, said this incident may set him back on his hunt for a job. The bike was his primary form of transportation, and it may be a couple of weeks before his arm is back to full strength.

An investigation into the incident was continuing on Monday.

Submitted on 12/05/2011

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: Gainesville Sun 12/05/11

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
Thanks, but train collisions are too common. There are over 2000 such incidents every year in the U.S. alone.

James said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
As Bruce said!

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2011 Slush Pile

At-Risk Survivor, training

2011 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

2011 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance