Los Angeles train hits car on tracks and derails, 21 hurt

[PoliticAverse]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles commuter train struck a car that turned in front of it near the University of Southern California campus on Saturday, derailing into a major thoroughfare and injuring 21 people, two of them seriously.

The car, a silver Hyundai Sonata, was left crumpled and unrecognizable and pinned against a pole alongside the tracks by the collision shortly before 11 a.m. PST, according to a Reuters witness.

The lead train car jumped the tracks, crashing through a metal fence and across a grass-covered median before coming to rest in the middle of Exposition Boulevard.

The operator of the three-car Metrolink train suffered serious injuries, said Donald Frazeur, assistant chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department. He said the driver of the Sonata, a man who had to be removed from his car with the "jaws of life" tool, was in grave condition.

Read the rest at: http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2015/mar/28/at-least-five-hurt-when-train-hits-two-vehicles-in-los-angeles/

[KamaAina]

1. Dear FSM, Metrolink safety sucks

this seems to recur every month or two.

[AndyTiedye]

2. Surprised They Don't Have Grade Separation in Such a Densely-Populated Area

Grade separation is an especially good idea if the trains are made of tinfoil.
Used to be, when a train and a car had a collision, to bad for the car. Nothing happened to the train.
If a Metrolink hits a car, it suffers massive damage, derails and causes dozens of casualties.