A Texas mother and daughter were killed last week when their 2008 Dodge truck was struck by an eastbound BNSF freight train in near Honey Island. The collision occurred around 1:40 pm at dangerous, unguarded BNSF railroad crossing and Woods Lane in Hardin County, Texas.
The mother and daughter were identified as 47-year-old Kimberly Creel and her daughter, 27-year-old Kimberly Shawnea Carver. Both were pronounced dead at the scene by Justice of the Peace Rod Ousley.
James Allen Sangwin spoke with local reporters and expressed concern with the dangerous nature of the crossing. "There's no crossing guards or nothing like that," he said. "But the only spot in Honey Island has crossing guards is on 1003. Several people said that he was traveling way too fast. And for there not to be no guards, you know, I can only guess at what happened."
He also noted that visibility is poor in the area due to overgrown vegetation. “You don't see the track till you get to the track,” Sangwin said. “By the time they honked it'd be too late.”
The crossing where this collision occurred accommodates six trains a day at typical speeds of 49 mph. It is virtually certain that the installation of lights and gates at this crossing would have prevented this tragic loss of life. Studies that have been conducted over fifty years ago confirm that lights and gates offer the ability to drastically reduce the number of vehicle/train collisions by as much as 96%.