Skip to main content

What train?

An inexperienced driver in Tasmania is hiding his red face after wrecking his Toyota Hilux pick-up truck in a recent accident. The inattentive driver crashed into a moving train at an unguarded crossing equipped with warning lights and bells.
February 21, 2012 Read time: 1 min
An inexperienced driver in Tasmania is hiding his red face after wrecking his Toyota Hilux pick-up truck in a recent accident. The inattentive driver crashed into a moving train at an unguarded crossing equipped with warning lights and bells. An examination of the safety equipment showed that the audible and visual warnings were functioning at the time of the accident. The locomotive driver brought the undamaged train to a halt immediately after the incident. Luckily the driver of the Toyota was unharmed, although his vehicle was wrecked beyond repair. Exactly how he managed to miss being aware of the train or the crossing warnings has yet to be explained. It is reported that his car radio was playing loudly prior to the incident but it is not clear if the volume was set so eye-poppingly high as to interfere with his vision.

Related Content

  • Parking problems
    March 21, 2012
    An Italian woman ended up parking her car on the roof of a house when she accidentally forgot to use its handbrake. The woman had stopped to photograph a scenic view but as she stood to one side and adjusted the settings on her camera, the car rolled from the road, through a barrier, down a hillside and onto a house below.
  • Road trains project saves space as well as fuel
    February 23, 2012
    A high-tech European project involving cars could reduce fuel consumption by up to one-fifth as Patrick Smith reports. A new EU project, Sartre, is aimed at developing and testing technology for vehicles that can drive themselves in long road trains on motorways.
  • Stronger crash barriers may be needed for heavier trucks
    January 4, 2013
    The European Road Federation (ERF) has voiced its concern that roadside barriers in Europe may have to be upgraded According to the ERF, the recent decision of the European Commission to allow cross-border movement of longer and heavier trucks, it is keen to raise awareness of the important implications such a move may have for road barriers. ‘Road safety barriers are designed and tested according to the maximum weight of vehicles circulating on Europe’s roads. The current European Norm (EN 1317) allows for
  • Crash saves lives
    November 20, 2014
    In Texas a police officer took affirmative action to tackle a drugged driver dangerously speeding the wrong way up a major highway. The officer spotted the errant vehicle heading the wrong way and drove his police cruiser deliberately into the path of the car, to safeguard other road users.