Warning lights failed before log truck’s collision with train, driver says 

A truck driver says the warning lights at a railroad crossing failed to activate before his attempt to cross in Alabama on Monday. 

Thomas Rivers was hauling logs down Papermill Road in Mobile on September 12th when he went to cross the train tracks. As he tried to do so, he noticed a train coming straight at him. 

“I saw the train coming. By the time I saw the train coming, he blew the horn. I tried to avoid him best I could,” said Rivers to NBC 15 News. “I changed lanes. I got from the lane I was supposed to be in, to the on-traffic lane to avoid the train, but it wasn’t enough.”

The train then crashed into the logging trailer, separating it from the cab of the truck and spilling the load of logs, but Rivers was able to walk away from the incident with only scratches. He says that, while that particular crossing does not have guard arms, there are warning lights intended to warn drivers of an approaching train that did not go off as he crossed the tracks. 

“I want to thank God again because he does have some scratches on him, a little cut up, but he’s okay. He’s walking, he’s talking, he’s okay,” said Maggie James, Rivers’ mother, who drove up to Mobile from Mount Vernon just to see his condition for herself.