Child Injured at Dangerous, Unguarded Crossing, Dad Gets Ticket
(White Pigeon, Michigan – July 6, 2012)
The driver of a car which collided with a Michigan & Southern freight train at the dangerous, unguarded crossing not only suffered the parental pain of having his three-year-old daughter injured in the accident, but was also cited by police for “failure to yield to a train at a railroad crossing”.
Dominic L. Wahl, 37, was driving south with his daughter, who was properly secured in a car seat, when their vehicle was struck by an eastbound train.
The intersection of the M&S railroad tracks and Elkhart Street has no automatic protective devices such as flashing lights, gates or bells, but instead is equipped solely with standard, passive railroad crossbuck signs to “alert” drivers of the 10 train which cross Elkhart Street daily.
St. Joseph County Sheriff’s officers issued the ticket regardless of the lack of more effective crossing protective systems.
