On Sun, 18 Nov 2012 04:51:00 -0800 (PST), "

Twenty-one seconds before the crash, the crossing's southbound traffic
signal turned green.

At 20 seconds, the crossing's warning lights began to flash and the
bells sounded. At the same time, the lead parade float's trailer
crossed the southern edge of the track's rail and made it through.

Thirteen seconds before impact, the crossing arms began to come down.

One second later, the trailer carrying the veterans began crossing the
track, its front tires rolling over the northern edge of the rail.

Three seconds later, the train engineer blasted his horn, stretching
out the blare for four seconds.

Seven seconds before impact, one of the crossing arms crashed into a
flagpole on the parade float.

Two seconds later, the engineer hit the emergency brakes.

At 4:36 p.m., the 80-car train slammed into the trailer at 62 mph. It
took more than a minute to come to a complete halt."


If that's correct, then it was 8 seconds after the warning
lights and bells went off and 1 second after the gate had
started to go down that the driver STARTED to cross
the tracks. Which fits with witnesses who said they
saw the gates going down on top of the float.


Wow, that sounds like a case of operator error or just plain
negligence. 8 seconds should be enough time to see the lights.