CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A Chesapeake man who witnessed a septic truck and a trash crash on Yadkin Road last week is sharing his experience and urging neighbors to stop, look and listen at all railroad crossings.
Chesapeake Police say the driver of the septic truck failed to stop at a posted stop sign prior to the crash. Police also say the truck driver remains hospitalized but is expected to recover.
Azuriah O'Daniel said he was doing what he does every day — watching trains — when the crash happened.
"Immediately my mouth just dropped, and then yeah, recorded for a second then I hopped out and checked on the driver," O'Daniel said.
O'Daniel said his love of trains goes back to childhood.
"You know, started with Thomas the Train, and then as I got older it got to real trains. So, that's literally all I was doing. I take pictures. I record them. I post them to social media, YouTube, and all that," O'Daniel said.
After O'Daniel's video was posted by News 3 last week, some neighbors began asking why the Yadkin Road railroad crossing does not have gate arms or lights. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, mechanical gate arms are not mandatory at every railroad crossing, and many low-speed rural roads do not have them.
O'Daniel said the experience caught him off guard.
"I was definitely a bit shaken up, for sure, to see something like that up close," O'Daniel said.
O'Daniel is hoping the truck driver makes a speedy recovery. He has a message for fellow neighbors.
"The main thing I want to preach is please, please, please, please, whenever you come to a railroad crossing, whether it's like this, or it has bells, gates, lights and all that, please stop. Please look. Please listen. That might be a matter of your life and death, literally," O'Daniel said.
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