The train barreling through Gulfport could not stop.
A semi-truck in its way could not move, and police said the driver leapt from the cab and fled.
Moments later, the train slammed the 18-wheeler.
Thursday was the second time this year a train collided with a semi-truck on 33rd Avenue in Gulfport.
And city leaders say the crashes signal troubling oversights and are raising questions about why truckers attempt the crossing at all.
“It’s repetitious. It shouldn’t be happening,” said Gulfport Councilman Kenneth Casey Sr., who represents the neighborhoods north of the collisions.
But despite signs that warn of low ground clearance, Gulfport Police Sgt. Jason Ducre said many truckers think “I’m just going to chance it.”
“Next thing you know,” he said, “they’re hung up on the tracks.”
The trucker was not injured on Thursday. Neither was the driver of another 18-wheeler struck by a train in February on 33rd Avenue.
Casey said the crossing has “plenty of safety measures,” and that responsibility falls on the truckers. There are two signs on each side of the crossing that warn drivers of low ground clearance at least a block in advance. The crossing has signals and lights.
“They just ignore it,” Casey said. “The train can’t stop. Everybody knows that.”
A spokesperson for Crete Carrier, the trucking company whose 18-wheeler crashed on Thursday, said its leadership is “aware of the situation” but does not “have any comment at this point.”
Railroad tracks can be especially high on the Coast, where trains contend with heavy rainfall, flooding and storm surge. The tracks can create problems for truckers, who sometimes get stuck when their trailers scrape against the higher ground and stop the truck from moving forward. Dozens of Gulfport crossings have yellow warning signs that illustrate the danger.
CSX did not say whether it plans to lower the 33rd Avenue crossing or any others on the Coast. The company said in a statement it would “work with local officials to identify crossings that are ideal candidates for safety improvements, consolidation and most importantly, closure.”
“We urge drivers to give their full attention when approaching railroad crossings and adhere to the posted low ground clearance warning signs,” a CSX spokesperson said. “It is critical that truck drivers ensure their vehicles can safely and sufficiently clear the highway profile conditions before proceeding across the crossing.”
The low clearance signs can be misleading, said Hal Miller, president of the Mississippi Trucking Association. The picture on the signs shows a low-slung trailer designed to carry bulldozers and heavy equipment. He said drivers carrying light loads in higher 18-wheelers sometimes assume it does not apply.
And Miller said signs placed at the edge of crossings give little notice to a trucker in a big vehicle with traffic behind it.
“He’s stuck,” Miller said. “It puts him in a very difficult situation. But he shouldn’t make the choice to risk life and limb to go over it.”
The crossing has proved dangerous before. A 42-year-old man driving a semi-truck full of bananas got stuck one afternoon last February, according to an accident report from the Federal Railroad Administration. The driver fled the cab. A freight train carrying unspecified “hazardous materials” struck the trailer at 44 miles per hour, the report said. No one was injured. But the collision caused $27,500 in damage, according to the document. It also spilled green bananas across 33rd Avenue.
Neither collision was the Coast’s first. In 2017, a freight train killed four people on a motor coach in Biloxi after its driver reprogrammed a GPS service for the scenic route from the Silver Slipper Casino to the IP Casino Resort. The bus could not clear a high-grade crossing or evacuate its passengers in time. The National Transportation Safety Board later said lack of action from Biloxi and CSX to fix the height of the crossing likely caused the deadly collision.
Recent crashes have been far less tragic. Coast officials say there have been other near-misses that go unreported because authorities pull the stuck 18-wheelers from the tracks in time.
Still, Casey said the collisions are troubling. He said it was lucky the Crete Carrier truck, which carried heavy paper rolls, did not derail the train. He said he fears that someday a trucker would wait until the last minute to cross and not escape the cab in time, or that a truck or train carrying hazardous material could spill and expose the neighborhood.
Casey, who worked at the Port of Gulfport for years, said out-of-town truckers sometimes stop at casinos, play some hands and lose some money. When they leave, he said they should drive north on 30th Avenue, where the tracks are more level. But Casey said GPS navigation sometimes takes truckers up 33rd Avenue.
“They’re lost,” he said.
The crashes also cause Gulfport headaches. In February, Casey said the collision knocked down crossing signals and the city had to replace them. Thursday’s crash seemed to damage at least one of the crossing signals. It appeared fixed by Monday afternoon.
Casey said the city may put flashing lights on the low clearance sign to attract truckers’ attention. Miller said placing low clearance signs blocks before crossings make it easier for truckers to turn around.
The collisions should be a reminder that trains cannot stop fast, said Kimbler Sloan, the executive director of Mississippi Operation Lifesaver, which works to reduce collisions at railroad crossings.
“Everyone should be hyper vigilant,” she said. “It’s important to not become complacent.”
Source Agencies
