This wasn't on the news, but I read about this in the local paper today. I saw the end result while aboard a Metra train. Only selected excerpts are listed, the full article can be read by clicking the link below.
Freight train smashes into car, killing driver
By Nina Fox
Staff writer
Published: 6/8/05
http://www.lifenewspapers.com/story.php?sid=7247&pub=10
An elderly resident of unincorporated DuPage County near Hinsdale was killed by a freight train June 6 after witnesses said he attempted to drive his car around the lowered crossing gates in Hinsdale.
The car -- driven by 80-year-old Charles F. Helms of 15 Godair Circle -- was pushed more than 500 feet down the tracks from Stough Street, just east of Route 83 in Hinsdale, and into Clarendon Hills before the train could come to a halt.
Hinsdale Deputy Police Chief Kevin Simpson said police believe Helms was coming from Clarendon Hills and had turned onto Stough Street, headed toward the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks. Around 2:40 p.m., a westbound freight train using the northernmost set of tracks was nearly at the grade crossing at Stough when Helms steered his 1997 four-door Buick into the train's path.
"According to witnesses, and there were several, the vehicle maneuvered around the down gates," he said. "It has been confirmed that the lights were flashing, the gates were down and the bells were ringing."
The train was traveling between 35 and 40 mph when the collision took place, police said. Simpson said the car came to rest wedged between a railroad signal tower and the lead locomotive in Clarendon Hills. Emergency crews needed more than three hours to clear the tracks and extract Helms from the vehicle.
Freight train smashes into car, killing driver
By Nina Fox
Staff writer
Published: 6/8/05
http://www.lifenewspapers.com/story.php?sid=7247&pub=10
An elderly resident of unincorporated DuPage County near Hinsdale was killed by a freight train June 6 after witnesses said he attempted to drive his car around the lowered crossing gates in Hinsdale.
The car -- driven by 80-year-old Charles F. Helms of 15 Godair Circle -- was pushed more than 500 feet down the tracks from Stough Street, just east of Route 83 in Hinsdale, and into Clarendon Hills before the train could come to a halt.
Hinsdale Deputy Police Chief Kevin Simpson said police believe Helms was coming from Clarendon Hills and had turned onto Stough Street, headed toward the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks. Around 2:40 p.m., a westbound freight train using the northernmost set of tracks was nearly at the grade crossing at Stough when Helms steered his 1997 four-door Buick into the train's path.
"According to witnesses, and there were several, the vehicle maneuvered around the down gates," he said. "It has been confirmed that the lights were flashing, the gates were down and the bells were ringing."
The train was traveling between 35 and 40 mph when the collision took place, police said. Simpson said the car came to rest wedged between a railroad signal tower and the lead locomotive in Clarendon Hills. Emergency crews needed more than three hours to clear the tracks and extract Helms from the vehicle.
