Austin, MN — An 18 year-old high school student died Tuesday morning in a truck-train crash at a railroad crossing a few miles South of Austin, Minnesota. The crossing, on Mower County Road near U.S. Highway 218, does not have a gate or warning lights. It is equipped only with stop signs and railroad crossing signs.
The teenager, from Rose Creek, MN, was a senior at Pacelli High School in Austin. Classes on Tuesday had been cancelled for a "snow day" due to hazardous, blizzard-like weather conditions. The pickup truck he was driving was hit broadside by a train after it slid on the icy road through the stop sign at the railroad tracks. There were no passengers in the pickup truck.
Visibility at the railroad crossing is poor. "At the intersection, the train is not visible from a great distance," reported the Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN.
The teenager was described by the Pacelli High School principal as begin well-like and, "a friend to all." Austin high school has offered to send its crisis team to the school to help student cope with the tragic loss.
If you have suffered the loss of a loved one in a railroad crossing accident, a railroad crossing accident attorney can help you find out exactly what happened and hold the railroad responsible the damages a dangerous, defective or unsafe crossing has caused you to suffer.
