Ventura Police Department – Incident Press Release
On December 27th at 6:52 PM, the Ventura Police Command Center received multiple 911 calls of a train versus a vehicle collision. As officers arrived at the scene and started to investigate, they learned that the 79-year-old driver of the vehicle was driving south on California and had stopped on the railroad tracks when he became confused as the railroad crossing lights came on, and the crossing arms came down.
The Union Pacific freight train was traveling east on the tracks. The engineer attempted to stop the train, however, he was unable to stop it in time, and it collided with the vehicle on the passenger side front corner panel. There were four occupants inside the car during the collision. All four were taken to local hospitals to be checked out. One of the four occupants, a 37-year-old male, suffered major injuries during the collision. His status is unknown at this time. No one on the train was injured.
It does not appear as if drugs or alcohol were involved in the incident. This is an ongoing investigation and anyone who may have witnessed the collision is asked to call the Ventura Police Traffic Investigation Unit at 805-339-4451.