The following is the official press release from the City of Oakley on Wednesday fatal train crash that killed a 12-year-old male.
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FATAL TRAIN COLLISION ON EAST CYPRESS ROAD
It is with great sadness that we confirm that there was a fatal collision between a vehicle and a freight train on East Cypress Road near Main Street shortly before 1:00 p.m. this afternoon.
A vehicle driven by a 19-year-old woman was traveling westbound on East Cypress Road at the railroad crossing when the back portion of the sedan was struck by a train. A 12-year-old male passenger in the car was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver was airlifted to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek for treatment of serious injuries.
The deceased boy was a student at Delta Vista Middle School and we extend our condolences to the entire school community. Oakley Union Elementary School District Superintendent Jeff Palmquist has confirmed that their crisis management team and counselors will be on campus to provide support to students and staff.
An additional vehicle in the area was struck by the car secondarily and the passengers in that car were not injured.
At this time, it appears all signals in the area were operating correctly. The initial investigation is being handled by the Oakley Police Department in cooperation with the Federal Railroad Administration.
There have been questions from the public regarding the flow of traffic in this area during peak traffic times. Per traffic studies, road striping changes have been implemented at East Cypress Road and Main Street that sought to alleviate congestion by providing double left turn lanes from westbound East Cypress to southbound Main Street.
To complement that striping and signage, the traffic signal timing has been adjusted at the intersection to expedite the flow of traffic out of East Cypress Road onto Main Street in all directions and give priority to the westbound traffic of this intersection during peak hours.
Oakley Police continue to ask people to avoid the area of Main Street and East Cypress Road this afternoon and into the evening. For access towards Bethel Island, use alternate routes to northbound Sellers Road to eastbound Cypress Road.
Once the lanes of traffic along East Cypress Road have reopened, residents will be alerted via a Nixle alert.
8 comments
Truly a tragic event. It will be interesting to see what the investigation reveals. I firmly believe that the changes to the traffic lanes contributed to, if not the actual cause, of the accident.
The one lane the now serves as the dedicated lane for Cypress thru traffic and right turns on Main results in a line of cars that often extends back across the tracks. Not hard to imagine that the vehicle involved was likely caught between the crossing gate behnd it and the cars ahead of it when it was hit.
Oakley is has created a major cluster flub by allowing so many home to be built on the E. Cypress corridor, without addressing the intersection’s short comings, which will soon to be further exacerbated by the recent approval of the 2700+ house development at E. Cypress and Bethel Island Rd.
The flow of traffic has been tremendously worse since the lane changes. A lot of residents have expressed this to the City of Oakley. This is heartbreaking.
That is just so sad.
the lanes were a major factor,, much more clogging of lanes since change, also people who are suppose to go left are going straight more accidents in the future if they don’t make
changes that will keep us safe
Under NO circumstances should anyone stop on a railroad crossing. If you can’t make it through, don’t go through. Period. Wait! Now, serious questions to Oakley, and the school district, need to be addressed.
I wonder if the traffic light is in sequence with the train crossing allowing the signal to automatically start a cycle to allow Cypress traffic to clear? If not, some reconsideration and adjustments need to be made.
This really made me cry.
Why in hell did the chick stop on the tracks? Why did she even have a kid in the car? One can hear a train coming from quite some distance and you DO NOT continue driving but stop before the tracks!
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