SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah ( ABC 4 NEWS)- There is new information about that deadly train accident Thursday night in Salt Lake County. Two people died and two were critically injured when the car they were in tried to beat a Trax train near 150 west and 4100 south. The train tracks there divide Murray and South Salt Lake.
One of the victims is 21-year-old Alex Amundson of Birdseye, Utah. Also killed in the crash was 18-year-old Donald Callison of Monroe, Utah. The Unified Police department says Callison was in the backseat of the Chevrolet sitting behind Amundson when the crash happened. The two other people in the crash are still in critical condition at IMC in Murray. They are an 18-year-old woman and a 19-year old man. Lt. Don Hutson of Unified police said,” As it approached the train tracks the arms were down and the lights were flashing.”
That indicates a train was coming. However, did Amundson get impatient because of a long wait? We wanted to find out what the average wait time was at that railroad crossing. We timed 20 trains in two hours. The average wait time was about 20-40 seconds. The last one came in at 23 seconds.
Nevertheless, UTA says they can tell exactly how long those railroad crossing arms or gates were up before Amundson drove past them. Gerry Carpenter of UTA said,” The driver wouldn't have been at the intersection for more than 30 seconds before the train passed through.”
Alex's brother says the four people in the car didn't know each other. He says they all were Kentucky Fried Chicken employees in town observing area restaurants.” Brady says he had no idea why his brother drove into the path of a train. Brady said,” It's kind of fishy because he's impulsive; he's kind of an adventurer. But he's not stupid.”
