Anaheim : Fatal Car-Train Crash Still Puzzles Officials

Three days after a fatal car-train accident, officials were still perplexed about the collision that killed a Placentia mother and her 2-year-old daughter.

A red traffic light flashed on and off while the blaring horn of an oncoming train attempted unsuccessfully to warn Fatemeh Javadzadeh, 34, that the trunk of her car was hanging over the railroad tracks.

“She could have moved forward. She had plenty of room to pull forward and stop,” Anaheim Police Officer Greg Mattis said of the Saturday morning accident.

Officials from both the Anaheim Police Department and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. said Monday that they did not expect further investigation or action on the accident near Orangethorpe Avenue and Imperial Highway.

Apparently, neither Javadzadeh nor her daughter, Behnoz, 2, were wearing seat belts. And that may have cost them their lives, Santa Fe special agent Rudy Sanchez said.

Both were ejected from the car when the freight train--three locomotives and 67 cars carrying truck trailers and other goods--struck the back of the car, Santa Fe spokesman Mike Martin said. The car spun around, the doors flew open and the mother and daughter were ejected, he said.

The train’s engineer spotted the car on the tracks, blew his horn and hit the brakes, Martin said. “But when you are moving 4,600 tons down the track . . . it does not stop like an automobile,” he continued.

Sanchez said the train was traveling about 50 m.p.h., less than the maximum speed of 55 m.p.h. for the city crossing, he said.

Martin said the area’s safety record “is no better, no worse” than other spots. Last April, a 32-year-old man was killed when his car was hit by a train at the same location.

In Saturday’s accident, Javadzadeh’s car protruded onto the train tracks about four feet, with no cars in front of her auto, Mattis said. The crossing arms were down on both sides and warning lights flashed properly, he said. Both police and Santa Fe spokesmen said they were satisfied that proper procedures were followed.

“We’ll never know what went through those people’s minds . . . why they didn’t get out of the way,” Martin said.