One of the busiest intersections in the city of Newark, New Jersey was closed by city police for two and a half hours on Saturday, November 10th because of a major trucking accident involving a freight train and a UPS semi truck. The accident took place around 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. The driver of the UPS truck, Joseph C. Mounts, a 42-year-old resident of Felton, New Jersey was taken to Christiana Hospital. He sustained serious injuries in the crash and was listed in critical condition at the time of this article’s writing.
According to Lt. Mark Farrall, spokesperson for the Newark Police, and other witnesses, the UPS driver had just finished a delivery at the nearby Deer Park Tavern. Police stated that a preliminary investigation into the collision has revealed that Mounts had just gotten back into his truck and had begun crossing the tracks when the crossing signal arms started to lower. This caused the arms to drop onto the trailer of the semi truck. Mounts attempted to drive his vehicle off the tracks but was unable to do so before the train crashed into the passenger side of his cab.
Rescue workers had to cut Mounts out of the cab according to witnesses and spokespeople from the fire company that responded to the scene. It took rescuers approximately eight minutes to get Mount out of the cab after arriving on scene.
Pictures of the scene taken by local news companies did not suggest that Mount’s view of the oncoming train would have been obstructed. It isn’t entirely clear as yet where fault ultimately lies, though as a general rule it is never a good idea to stop on train tracks: If a driver can’t clear the tracks, he shouldn’t proceed onto the tracks.
There is no word as to whether police will be pressing charges in this matter.
