Three teenagers narrowly escaped serious injury or death when the car they were in was hit by a train on Highway 69 Friday afternoon.
The teens — an 18-year-old driver and two 17-year-old passengers — were heading north toward Columbus at about 12:30 p.m., the same time a Kansas City Southern train was traveling east on the tracks intersecting Highway 69 near the Columbus Fairgrounds. According to a Columbus Police Department press release, the driver was trying to cross the tracks before the train reached them. The train hit the tail end of the vehicle, spinning it around and tearing off the rear bumper but ultimately not injuring any of the three people in the car.
“The train whistle, signal lights and bells were working,” Police Chief Fred Shelton said. “The driver told us she thought she could beat the train. That is always a terrible idea.
“If it had been one-half second later, this could have been much worse since the train would have struck the car on the driver’s side,” he added.
The driver, who officials did not identify, received three misdemeanor citations for avoiding a traffic control device, no driver’s license and no insurance, the press release said. Shelton said the train was not traveling fast and that the conductor attempted to stop the train as soon as the collision occurred, but that it can take up to half a mile for a train to come to a complete stop.
“Don’t play these games with trains,” he said in the release. “The train whistle was sounding, the lights and bells were working, the driver just chose to ignore it and put herself and two others in the car at risk of losing their lives. We don’t want to knock on the door of a family member and tell them their relative is dead from ignoring a warning from a train. Please stop and wait.”
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