Pregnant Motorist Yields to Ambulance, Collides with Houston Metro Train – 10 Hurt
(Houston, Texas – September 18, 2012)
An as-yet unidentified female motorist, said to be eight months pregnant, complied with the law and yielded to an ambulance coming behind her on Fannin Street in Houston, TX Tuesday morning at about 9:45 A.M. near the Texas Medical Center, only to be struck by an oncoming Houston METRORAIL light rail suburban passenger train.
Houston’s METRORAIL shares right-of-way with many city streets, including Fannin, and the pregnant motorist was following the same “yield to an emergency vehicle” procedure as a car ahead of her, but unknowingly got too close to the train tracks and was sideswiped by the train.
Witnesses said the victim was frantic because of her condition, and she was transported to Methodist Hospital for treatment of her injuries and stabilization of her unborn child. Meanwhile, the collision also resulted in injury to nine passengers aboard the train, all of whom were transported to nearby hospitals.
The accident occurred at the intersection of Cambridge and Fannin Street, where there is no separation or protection between trains and highway vehicles on the road/rail route.
