Car in crash didn’t slow at rail crossing
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DETROIT - The car carrying five young people never slows as it approaches a rail crossing near Detroit and drives right past a car that had been stopped there for several seconds - just before an Amtrak train rushes through the crossing.
Police released a copy of a surveillance video yesterday that captured the crash a day earlier, in which the five people were killed after skirting the railroad gate about 20 miles west of Detroit. At the wheel, according to police and state records, was a 19-year-old man with a suspended license.
“There is no indication alcohol or anything else was involved other than bad judgment,’’ said Sergeant Mark Gajeski, Canton Township police spokesman.
Dan Broughton of Woodhaven was driving, Gajeski said. State records show he had a number of traffic violations.. His failure to show a driver’s license April 1 in Woodhaven led a judge to suspend it for one month - a suspension that began Wednesday.
Investigators said the crossing had a gate and flashing lights that were working when the car approached. Police said the train, which was carrying about 170 people, typically travels about 67 miles per hour at the site of the crash. It broadsided the black Ford Fusion and pushed it about a mile down the tracks.
Police said the train was traveling within the speed limit.
Last year, 119 people died nationwide in Amtrak accidents, usually when trains struck vehicles or pedestrians at crossings, according to federal figures.
