Hmmmm, is it possible that the driver wasn't really a stop, look, and listen kind of guy?

Group did not have permit for Midland parade
Published: November 21, 2012
MIDLAND, Texas The organization that sponsored a parade through Midland last week did not have a permit for this years parade, in which a Union Pacific train struck a float, killing four veterans a city spokesman told the San Antonio Express-News. The city of Midland did not issue a permit nor did the city receive a permit application from the Show of Support organization, said Ryan Stout, city spokesman.

During this years parade, a truck pulling a flatbed trailer carrying a dozen veterans, their wives, and two escorts tried to cross the UP tracks as the crossing warning signals activated and was hit by the train. Although the parade didnt have a permit, police officers, mostly with the Midland County Sheriffs Office, were escorting the procession. Union Pacific has said that it was unaware of the procession.

Bob Pottroff, an attorney representing a U.S. Army sergeant who was injured in the crash and his wife, said the permit is somewhat irrelevant. They knew it was going to happen, because there was a police escort. This process doesnt have anything to do with crossing safety, he said, adding that he believes the main issue was that safety devices at the crossing werent properly timed to give motorists enough advance warning.

However, National Transportation Safety Board member Mark Rosekind said Nov. 18 that preliminary information indicates all of the signals at the intersection including traffic lights, warning bells, crossing arms and flashing red lights at the crossings were functioning as designed and timed within federal standards at the time of the crash.

Rosekind also said that, based on preliminary data, it appeared that the driver of the Smith Industries Inc. flatbed, Dale Andrew Hayden, 50, also a veteran, entered the crossing seconds after the warning lights and bells were activated, and one second after the crossing arms began to descend.

Yesterday the NTSB conducted a sight distance test at the scene of the collision to collect more data for its investigation, said spokesman Peter Knudson. A UP train with 10 cars and a locomotive and a Smith Industries tractor-trailer each traveled back and forth through the intersection several times during the three-hour test. We want to understand what each operator saw and heard at various points, Knudson said. That will help us understand what their perspectives were.