Trucker Cited In Collision With Train

Tue., Aug. 9, 1994

From Staff

A trucker whose trailer was sheared in half by a train Sunday night has been cited for failing to stop at a railroad crossing, the Idaho State Police said Monday.

Richard A. Martel, of Cheyenne, Wyo. was flagged onto Garwood Road from U.S. Highway 95 southbound shortly before 7 p.m. To clear the trailer’s supports, he took the railroad crossing at an angle and never saw or heard an approaching Union Pacific freight train, state police Cpl. Sean Daly said.

Daly said a flagger from the Hayden Lake Fire Protection District was detouring traffic onto Garwood Road around an earlier highway crash. The flagger was standing in the middle of the highway, Daly said. About 100 feet away, there is a stop sign beside the Garwood Road railroad crossing.

“The flagger has not done anything wrong,” Daly said. “The truck driver is still required to stop at the stop sign.”

Daly estimated damage to the trailer at $50,000, and damage to the front locomotive at $8,000 to $10,000.

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