3 Missing After Trains Collide in Rural Oklahoma

June 26, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Three Union Pacific crew members remain missing after two trains collided in the Oklahoma Panhandle, causing a white-hot fire that emergency crews are struggling to extinguish.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph says the fire near Goodwell is contained but was still burning Monday morning. A National Safety Transportation Board team is investigating the Sunday morning crash.

Each train carried two crew members, and officials say one conductor survived after jumping off the train. Three crew members are missing.

Randolph says firefighters from Fort Worth, Texas, were en route with fire-suppressing foam after hundreds of gallons of water failed to put out the blaze. After the fire is extinguished, crews must wait for the metal to cool before they can safely search the trains for any sign of the missing crew.

Authorities have reopened part of U.S. Highway 54 in the Oklahoma Panhandle that was closed after the trains collided near Goodwell.

Randolph says traffic is being routed into the eastbound lane of U.S. 54, which had been closed in both directions between Guymon and Texhoma. The westbound lane will remain closed until further notice.

She says drivers are encouraged to pay attention to the traffic and not the train collision to avoid any possible accidents.

A conductor of one of the trains survived.

 

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: Liability, Oklahoma, Safety & Loss Control, train crash, workers' compensationHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk

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Pennsylvania Farmers Highlight Safety on Rural Roads

April 23, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Jim Rexroth knows what happens when drivers don’t pay attention to large farm equipment traveling on rural roads.

The Lower Windsor Township, York County, Penn., farmer and his employees at Rexroth Farms have been involved in “small fender benders” several times in the past couple years, he said.

“It was things like farm equipment turning left as a car was trying to pass or a car underestimating the width of something,” he said. “We’d like to prevent these kinds of things if we can.”

Last Wednesday, Rexroth and several officials from various organizations came together at Rexroth Farms to talk about safety on the roads as planting season begins.

There were 92 crashes and four fatalities on Pennsylvania’s roadways involving farm equipment, said Mike Keiser, an engineering executive with PennDOT. By sharing the roads and being patient, drivers can prevent most of these crashes.

“We have to share the roads with a lot of different things,” Keiser said. “We’re all out there together.”

Farmers — who are allowed to drive their equipment on the roads — will often try to get out of the way when they can, but they need drivers to be patient and wait for equipment to find a place to pull over, said Carl Shaffer, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and a farmer from Columbia County.

“We’re aware we’re slowing down traffic,” he said.

But farmers also need to extra take precautions and make sure they’re doing everything they can to avoid accidents on the road, Rexroth said. The farm “spares no expense” when it comes to adding flashers and lights to their large equipment to alert other vehicles of their presence on the road and avoids traveling during peak driving hours, he said.

“We don’t want to be on the road during (busy) times,” he said.

 

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: East NewsTopics: farm equipment, road safety, rural roadsHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk

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