A driver and his three passengers were shaken but unhurt after their vehicle was hit by a freight train in Ambleside on Tuesday.
The incident happened just before 9 p.m. where the rail line crosses 15th Street between Argyle and Bellevue avenues.
It is illegal to turn right from Argyle onto 15th. A series of plastic bollards are set up as a barrier.
West Vancouver police are chalking the near-disaster up to “inattentiveness.”
“Perhaps they were focussed on the barricade and trying to get around it and clearly not paying enough attention as to whether or not the train was coming,” said Const. Jeff Palmer, West Vancouver police spokesman. “The front of the train collided with, fortunately, the front quarter of the vehicle so it just basically spun the vehicle off the tracks.”
The 43-year-old Richmond driver received tickets for disobeying a traffic control device and failing to yield. Police estimated the damage to his brand new Toyota Yaris at $5,000.
Trains are typically going about 19 kilometres per hour as they move through that part of town, Palmer said. The at-grade crossing’s bells and warning lights were activated but there is no crossing arm blocking the intersection.
A similar train-versus-car collision happened at the same location in June 2014. The train won.
