MARCH 27, 2015
CONOY TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA
An 85-year-old man is recovering after his pickup truck was
struck by an empty oil train March 27 in Bainbridge, Conoy Township, along the
Susquehanna River.
Clark “Red” Arnold, of Marietta, was in critical condition
as recently as Friday, but was listed in good condition Monday, a spokeswoman
at Penn State Hershey Medical Center said.
Arnold was trapped in the truck after he apparently stopped
his vehicle in the train’s path.
“He just didn’t hear the train,” Conoy Township supervisor
Stephen Mohr said Friday afternoon.
“He and the train got to the intersection at about the same
time. When he did see the train, he panicked and stopped on the tracks.”
Mohr, who witnessed the crash, said he had been speaking to
Arnold just moments before the accident at the nearby Koser Park Boat launch
area.
“You’re helpless,” he said. “I knew it was going to happen
before it happened, but there’s nothing you can do.”
The crash occurred at the Race Street crossing at North
Front Street.
Emergency crews were called to the scene at 1:29 p.m.
The Norfolk Southern oil train was heading north toward
Harrisburg and was not carrying oil at the time of the crash, according to
police.
Local, state and federal officials have expressed concerns about explosive Bakken crude oil
being transported by train after several recent derailments.
Oil trains, often pulling more than 100 tanker cars, roll
through about 35 miles of Lancaster County along the Susquehanna River up to 16
times a week.
Arnold was freed from his truck and taken to Hershey Medical
Center for treatment, according to Lt. Stephen Englert of Susquehanna Regional
Police.
“It was pretty serious,” Mohr said. “He took a beating. ...
They had to take the vehicle apart to free him.”
Mohr said Arnold was "conscious and talking to us"
while rescue workers freed him from the truck.
There are no crossgates or warning lights at the
intersection, Mohr noted. Howver, there are railroad signs before the intersection and the tracks are right there, easy to see.
Witnesses at the scene stated they heard the Norfolk
Southern train horn well before the train collided with the vehicle, according
to the Susquehanna Regional Police report.
Randy Gockley, director of the Lancaster County Emergency
Management Agency, said the train did not derail, and responders on the scene
reported no leakage from the train.
The Race Street intersection is the entrance to Bainbridge
American Legion Park, which serves as the trailhead for the Northwest Lancaster
County River Trail, as well as the location of the Bainbridge Inn.
Englert said the collision does not make him any more
concerned about oil trains traveling through Conoy.
Capt. Leonard Crater of Bainbridge Fire Department said the
the victim apparently “got a little too close to the tracks, and was unaware of
the train coming.”
Onlookers “didn't think he was trying to beat the train,”
Crater said.
He was glad train cars were empty so “there was no kind of
worry about any kind of leak or explosions or anything like that.”
The Bainbridge fire captain said nearly 20 firefighters from
his department and nearby units responded, along with police.
Penny Rhan of 114 Race St., some 50 yards from the crash,
heard a boom but didn't initially realize it had been a train accident.
Another Race Street resident, Wayne Brooks, said “it's been
a long time since we've had an accident there.”
Source: http://lancasteronline.com
So many accidents, including deadly accidents, are caused by
old drivers. We have to better test their abilities to operate a motor vehicle. We do know that the old people lose with
aging their eyesight, their hearing, their reflexes and so on. This old driver fits the pattern: he did not hear the train, while other people
did hear it. It is simply not safe to
let them drive without more safeguards to protect them and the rest of us.