Driver escapes injury in car/train collision at Emerson Avenue

A car/train collision on Dec. 6 had a better than expected outcome as the driver of the car escaped without injury.

According to Lt. Dan Anselment of the Wright County Sheriff’s Department, the accident occurred at about 9 a.m. on Friday when Bradley Ebeling of Maple Lake was proceeding south on Emerson and stopped at the railroad tracks at the intersection of Emerson and 45th Street, east of Maple Lake. He then proceeded through the railroad crossing without seeing the Canadian Pacific Railways train approaching.

The train hit Ebeling’s 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix, pushing it into the north ditch. A crossing sign and a stop sign in the path of the car were also leveled.

The train stopped after the crash and Canadian Pacific Railways employees came to Ebeling’s assistance, but he was uninjured. The car was a total loss.

Bright sun that obscured Ebeling’s vision was listed as the cause of the accident.  Anselment said statistics of car/train accidents would show that Ebeling was one of the fortunate few who are able to walk away from a collision of such severity, likely thanks to where the car was struck and that it was quickly spun off the tracks.

“He was pretty lucky,” Anselment said.  

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