When it comes to a showdown between a train and a car parked on the tracks, the train is almost always the inevitable victor. A Ford Police Interceptor Utility unfortunately experienced this firsthand last week in Greensboro, North Carolina. The officer responsible for the vehicle left it on the tracks and narrowly avoided being part of the incident when a trail barreled into the back of the SUV.
According to a report from MyFox8, the incident occurred on November 28th, 2024, on Hilltop Road in Greensboro. The Greensboro Police Department officer left the Ford interceptor parked on the tracks despite warning lights and barriers that had already deployed, warning oncoming traffic of the inbound Amtrak train. The officer can be seen fleeing the doomed vehicle as the train bears down, just seconds before it makes contact with the vehicle.
The train rear-ends the Ford Police Interceptor Utility – which still has its lights blazing – and shoves it well down the track. The train stays where it’s supposed to, but the vehicle careens into the grass.
“On Thursday, November 28th, Amtrak train 76 was traveling from Charlotte to Raleigh at approx. 6:50 p.m. ET, when it came into contact with an unoccupied vehicle obstructing the track in Jamestown, NC at milepost 290.35,” Amtrak said in a statement regarding the crash. “There were no reported injuries to the 58 passengers or crew members onboard. Amtrak is cooperating with local law enforcement to investigate the incident.”
It’s unclear why the officer left the Ford Police Interceptor Utility parked on the train tracks, but suffice to say they probably won’t be doing that again.
Interestingly, trains are a big enough threat to vehicles that The Blue Oval actually filed a patent for train detection in future models. The patent, which Ford Authority previously reported, was filed on September 28th, 2021, published on March 30th, 2023. The patent referred to “systems and methods for determining the passage status of a train at a railroad crossing,” although it probably wouldn’t have helped this unfortunate Police Interceptor Utility, which was facing away from the oncoming train.
Comments
I’m glad no one was injured of course, but would have loved to see what the Patrol Unit looked like after the crash. It appears to have just been pushed out of the way, almost looked like it was in neutral. Was it drivable after the crash, Police Officer should have to continue driving it as his assigned unit if it is drivable.
Fair chance that the fuel pump cut-off was activated when the vehicle was rear ended. I don;t know about you but I would have left the vehicle too.