Probe of Moorpark Train Crash Winds Down

As officials with the National Transportation Safety Board wind down an investigation into a weekend train accident in Moorpark that left one man dead and another injured, the brother of the dead man Monday called for increased safety measures at the railroad crossing where the accident took place.

Transportation authorities have spent the past two days investigating the circumstances surrounding the Saturday collision between a Seattle-bound Amtrak passenger liner and a semitruck driven by 31-year-old Rodney Allen McCarty of El Rio.

McCarty was killed in the accident, which occurred east of Hitch Boulevard at California 118.

According to authorities, McCarty was trying to cross the train tracks at an unguarded crossing along Highway 118 at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday when the train slammed into his flatbed trailer.

He was trying to deliver a bulldozer to a nearby farm.

“He was a lot more than just a truck driver,” said Brian McCarty, the victim’s younger brother. “He had more friends than anybody I know. There isn’t anybody who would say anything bad about him. . . . He was an incredible person. He was not only my brother, he was also my best friend.”

He said as many as 30 truck drivers will drive their rigs to his brother’s funeral, scheduled 10 a.m. Wednesday at First Baptist Church of Oxnard.

Rodney McCarty was born in Ventura and grew up in Oxnard, graduating from Rio Mesa High School in 1984.

As a boy, he jumped into the family tow-truck business, founded by his father in 1976, washing trucks and accompanying his dad on jobs.

“He lived trucks,” Brian McCarty said.

Family members said that some good still can come from the tragedy. They want lights and a safety bar installed at the unmarked railroad crossing where Rodney died.

“There’s been other people killed at that crossing, and I don’t want anybody to get killed again,” Brian McCarty said. Another man, 28-year-old Jose Antonio Aguirre of Moorpark, was injured in the accident after he was struck by debris from the truck while working on a nearby bridge.

Aguirre remained in good condition Monday at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, said hospital spokeswoman Kris Carraway. He is expected to be released in the next few days.

None of the 391 passengers on the train was injured, though the collision sparked a small blaze in a field adjacent to the train tracks.

Although no federal investigators were able to comment on the probe, officials said they are looking into whether the absence of crossing bars or warning lights may have contributed to the fiery crash.

For a number of area residents, Saturday’s accident brought back memories of similar collisions they have seen over the years.

Most agreed the accident was tragic, but they didn’t believe that new precautions were needed.

“It’s just awful what happened, but it was certainly avoidable,” said Hitch Boulevard resident Nathan White. “They used to tell us that when you get to a crossing, always stop, look and listen. But it looks like some people just aren’t doing that anymore.”

Billie Pass has lived in the area for almost 30 years and said she’s seen plenty of accidents and people taking their chances with a speeding train.

“I blame the train about as much as I do the tire that explodes and causes a crash,” Pass said. “Accidents happen and people just need to be more careful.”

This is not the first time a train has killed people trying to cross at an unguarded crossing.

In December 1992, an Amtrak train struck a van at a crossing less than a mile away from the one McCarty tried to cross, killing three farm workers and injuring another as they drove home from Underwood Ranch.

Craig Underwood, who leases the property, said after the accident he looked into installing a crossing gate, but the cost was estimated to be about $200,000.

“We thought it would be better just to tell our employees not to use that crossing at all so everyone would be safe,” Underwood said.

The employees now use another entrance to the ranch that does not intersect with an unguarded crossing.

Last year, 28-year-old Joel Dekam of Ventura was killed after a Metrolink train plowed into his car while he tried to cross a private railroad crossing near Somis Road.

Dekam was ejected from the car and died at the scene from severe head, chest and abdominal injuries.

A stop sign was the only crossing control in the accident, and investigators determined that the lack of warning devices contributed to the accident.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, there were 137 collisions between trains and automobiles in the state last year that killed 20 people and injured 59.

Saturday’s collision brings the number of fatal railroad accidents in Ventura County to four this year.

In May, 52-year-old William Collings was killed as he tried to save one of his dogs that was standing on the tracks at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura.

The other two deaths were ruled suicides.

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Correspondent Nick Green contributed to this story.