Driver Critically Hurt When Train Hits Car

A motorist who apparently tried to drive his car around the crossing gate at a Chatsworth railroad crossing was hit broadside by a freight train Wednesday and dragged about 300 yards.

The man, a Glen Ridge, N.J., resident whose name was not released, was in critical condition at Northridge Hospital Medical Center where he was treated for head injuries, nursing supervisor Anne Lipman said.

The man was in the southbound lane of Corbin Avenue near Nordhoff Street about 6:30 p.m. when he drove into the northbound lane to get around the crossing gates. Several other drivers also had slipped through the gates minutes earlier, but the man apparently did not see the eastbound train because of the sunlight, witnesses said.

“I saw the look on his face. I don’t think he knew what hit him,” said Ed Sikora, 51, who was standing at the intersection at the time. “The guy saw everybody else go through there and he just figured he could do it too. . . . I waved my arms and shouted, but he didn’t notice--then it was too late.”

Gwen MacDonald, 40, of Northridge said: “I had seen several cars sneak through there. The train was entering the intersection and he just went right into it too. It just picked him up and moved him down.”

Sikora, MacDonald and several other witnesses ran over and pulled the man from the car, a 1991 Cadillac Seville. “One of the guys who ran up was a veterinarian who started giving first aid,” said MacDonald, who was waiting at the intersection when the accident occurred. The victim, who appeared to be in his 60s, was bleeding heavily and unconscious, witnesses said. The entire passenger side of the car was pushed within two feet of the driver-side door.

Paul Jordan, a Van Nuys resident who pulled the man from the crumpled car, said motorists frequently try to zigzag through the crossing gates.

“This didn’t have to happen,” Los Angeles Police Officer Walt Hogue said. “Anybody who goes around the gate is really taking a chance.”