WHEN IT'S A TIE AT THE RAILROAD CROSSING, YOU LOSE. The investigation of last week's fatal collision between a car and an Acela Express near New London, Connecticut raises the possibility of an incapacitated driver.

According to an eye-witness report from a town official who was waiting in his car behind the closed crossing gates on the north side of Miner’s Lane in Waterford, the Ford Taurus rolled under the closed gate on the south side of the crossing and directly into the path of the train, which was traveling 71 mph at the time according to Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black.

Witnesses said all four gates at the crossing, and all lights, were working, as well as the ringing bell which signals the approach of a train.

The Ford Taurus pushed under the gate, forcing it up, and then the rest of the car rolled onto the track, the witness, Waterford Town Planner Thomas Wagner reported.

That doesn't make the consequences any more pretty.

Photo courtesy of National Corridors

You're looking at the effect of an Acela Express smashing a Ford Taurus at 71 mph. I was once flagman on a 52 ton interurban car that hit a station wagon at 5 mph. No effect on the interurban car. You do not want to mess with a train.