Car and train collide in Wabash, 1 person dead

WABASH COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) - A train and car accident in Wabash killed one person Thursday morning and left some saying the intersection needs to be made safer.

According to David Pidgeon, manager of public relations for Norfolk Southern, the incident happened at around 11:30 a.m. at the Fisher Street crossing.

According to the police report, Luther Steele, Jr., 63, of Wabash, was driving northbound at the Fisher Street intersection when he failed to yield the right of way to a train traveling westbound.

The train engineer, Theodore Cocolin, said the train's lights were on and the bell was working. He could not stop the train to avoid hitting Steele's vehicle.

Cocolin said the train was traveling at 38 mph at the time of the incident.

Police said there are no crossing arms at the intersection but the rail road crossing warning signal on the south side of the intersection was working properly. The crossing on the north side of the intersection had been hit by Steele's vehicle and the signal pole had been knocked down.

Police said the train engineer showed no signs of impairment.

According to the Wabash County Coroner, Steele was pronounced dead at the scene.

Wabash police say the intersection in Thursday morning's accident did not have crossing arms.  It's a safety precaution that possibly could have prevented the crash.

"When they don't have the crossing arms that come down, people will look and think they can beat the train across," said Gregory Music with the Wabash Police Department.  "I would recommend that they were on every intersection."

Timothy Butts lives right next to the railroad crossing and agrees the cross arms are necessary for safer intersections.

"I think there should be crossing arms wherever there's traffic in town," Butts said.  "I understand not out in the country, but when you have 13 crossings in a city of what 16,000 people, it would probably be a good idea."

It's unclear why Steele failed to yield at the crossing.  Officials said lights at the crossing were flashing, but were damaged in the crash.  Norfolk Southern crews worked to fix them Thursday evening.