Cellphone video from commuter that was on the train platform near Metra 609 that struck a vehicle on southbound River Road.

Timothy F. Jones, 51, of Hawthorn Woods is identified as the male driver of a crash with a train that caused his fatal injuries about 8:08 a.m. Wednesday. Alcohol is not suspect in the investigation, but witnesses have reported that he appeared to try to drive around the train gates.

Read more from The Cardinal …

This is broken ??

If you ever have second thoughts about keeping kids and their skateboards and BMX bikes off of public property, such as schools, library steps, parking garage decks, heavily populated sidewalks; stick with the first thought. It’s dangerous. It’s one thing if the rider gets hurt, but innocent bystanders get hurt, too.

Accident on Highway 121 in Lewisville, Texas was caught on video camera. A dump truck pulled in front of an 18 wheeler and both trucks burst into flames. Neither driver was hurt.

A wreck involving an 18-wheeler semi-trailer truck, two other trucks, and a pickup truck resulted in an explosion and fire on northbound Highway 121, just northeast of Interstate 35E (Stemmons Freeway) last Thursday, April 8, 2010. The crash occurred when an 18-wheeler jackknifed when it apparently tried to avoid hitting a North Texas Tollway Authority dump truck that was changing lanes.

The driver of the semi-trailer truck jumped out of his cab just before it and its “Leap of Faith” trailer filled with frozen chicken slammed into the concrete center lane divider of the Sam Rayburn Tollway. The impact caused a second flare-up of flames, but the driver the driver escaped the flames. The cab ended up burning and hanging over the edge of the center divider. No injuries were reported, but one person was transported to a hospital as a precaution. The semi-trailer was leased to a company named “Leap of Faith” from Fort Worth.

All four northbound lanes and two southbound lanes of Highway 121 were shut down at 5 p.m. and into the night while the accident was investigated and the bridge was inspected.

View Strange World in a larger map
Location where 18-wheeler was merging into northbound 121.

View Strange World in a larger map

Chevy Suburban fully involved car fire showing arrival of Gary Fire Department, and a head-on crash involving a gaper with moderate damage at 5:05 elapsed time.

A fully involved vehicle fire in a large SUV occurred at 20th and Chase in Gary, Indiana (date unknown possibly September 2009). While firefighters were wrapping up, a head-on collision at moderate speeds occurred down the street (you can hear the crash at 5:05 elapsed time). No injuries at either incident.

Many people worry about huge car explosions, such as they see on television or movies, but the biggest risk at a car fire is probably getting hit by another vehicle in a second incident caused by human error of drivers distracted by the first incident. Another risk of car fires is getting hit by an exploding air bag canister. Air bags usually detonate during fully involved vehicle fires. The canister can go airborne like a missile and fly out the back window of the vehicle — landing up to about 50 feet directly behind the rear of a vehicle. The canister is sharp and made of metal, so impact with the human body could cause serious injury or death. Notice the videographer doesn’t stand directly behind the SUV. Firefighters face other hazards in newer vehicles — namely hybrids energized by electricity.

Video is by Edward Malik, a photographer and videographer from the south Chicago suburbs and Gary, Indiana area.

See also …
mabas21.com

Oakland Fire Department and Police Department responded about 6:30 a.m. PT to an accident involving an Amtrak Train and an AC Transit Bus near 66th Avenue and San Leandro Street. The driver escaped the stalled bus about four minutes before impact. There were no passengers on the bus. There were 40 passengers on The Capitol Corridor train.

The emergency call also involved a HazMat operation to prevent diesel fuel from draining into a waterway that flows into the San Leandro Bay.

The Oakland Amtrak crash occurred a day after an Amtrak train crashed into a fire truck that was parked on the tracks during accident scene management involving a car and a semi-trailer truck in Detroit, Michigan.

Video of Kansas pileup on westbound Interstate 70 near Exit for K-7, 73, 24, 40 (Bonner Springs, Leavenworth Exit) just south of Wyandotte County Park.

View the site of the Kansas City area pileup/Strange World in a larger Street View.

Dozens of weather-related crashes shut down stretches of several highways in the Kansas City area. Multiple accidents have been reported along Interstate 70.

Northbound I-35 at 87th Street was closed for nearly three hours because of a multi-car pileup Sunday afternoon.

U.S. 69 was closed for several hours Sunday near 87th Street because of a crash.

Westbound I-70 at K-7 in Wyandotte County was still closed as of 5 p.m.

The I-35 crash closed the highway just before 2 p.m. and sent 13 people to the hospital mostly with minor injuries. Authorities estimated that more than 20 cars were involved the crash.

View the site of the Kansas City area pileup/Strange World in a larger map