SEATTLE – A pickup truck was totaled Tuesday morning after colliding with a Sound Transit Light Rail train in South Seattle, disrupting rail traffic.
The accident happened around 11:50 a.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and South Dawson Street. Sound Transit spokesperson Bruce Gray says the truck driver was making an illegal left hand turn and was hit by the train.
The train runs between the north and southbound lanes of Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The pickup driver, Reid Saario, was driving north when, he says, he became confused at the intersection with the tracks.
"I watched all of the cars go down and I was going to take a left hand turn. Then I realized I can't take a left hand turn. By the time I had done that, the train had hit me," said Saario. He walked away with some cuts from the broken glass.
"Somebody was definitely on my side. The Lord or somebody, said Saario. "It was like the crushing of an aluminum can."
Even before Sound Transit opened the Light Rail line, it had a public education program to try and prevent accidents like this from happening.
"The main thing we do, is put up the right kind of signs and put up as much warning as possible. You need to follow the traffic rules and not make a left hand turn where there's no left hand turn, especially if there's a train right next to you," said Gray.
The line is back in full service. A bus bridge was used to get passengers around the scene for about three hours.
Police say Saario could be ticketed.
Since the line opened about 13 months ago, there have been at least nine collisions between trains and vehicles. Sound Transit says it expected three times that many.
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