RAILROAD/HIGHWAY ACCIDENT REPORT: SOUTHERN PACIFIC TRANSPORTATION COMPANY FREIGHT TRAIN/AUTOMOBILE GRADE CROSSING COLLISION, TRACY, CALIFORNIA. MARCH 9, 1975

About 1:45 a.m. on March 9, 1975, three teenagers were killed when their auto, moving at a speed of more than 50 mph, struck the side of the leading car of a slow-moving freight train at a crossing irregularly used by trains. The presence of the crossing was indicated by warning signs 500 feet and 380 feet in advance of the crossing and by crossbucks at the crossing; a train flagman at the crossing was unsuccessful in his attempts to stop the automobile. The driver's blood alcohol level was 0.14 percent and the passengers' blood alcohol levels were 0.10 and 0.09 percent. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the automobile driver to make a proper approach to a known, identified crossing, and his failure to respond to the flagman's signals or to observe the train at, or on, the crossing until it was too late to avoid impact. The driver's failure to respond probably was caused by the influence of alcohol.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Surface Transportation Safety
  Washington, DC  United States  20594

  D.C. Bureau of Surface Transportation Safety.

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• Publication Date: 1976-2-17

Media Info

• Pagination: 31 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcoholic beverages; Alertness; At grade intersections; Attention; Automobiles; Blood alcohol levels; Blood analysis; Crash investigation; Crashes; Drivers; Drunk driving; Fatalities; Freight trains; Intersections; Navigation lights; Physiological aspects; Railroad grade crossings; Railroad signals; Railroads; Traffic crashes; Warning signs
• Identifier Terms: Southern Pacific Railroad
• Old TRIS Terms: Blood chemical analysis; Grade crossing accidents; Light signals; Physiological factors
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00133202
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-RHR-76-1
• Files: NTIS, TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 23 1976 12:00AM