Glare blamed for crash with railroad equipment

By Dan Davis
First Posted: August 15, 2012 - 10:31 pm
Last Updated: August 15, 2012 - 10:37 pm

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Tribune photo by Dan Davis / Cpl. Ernest Davidson investigates a wreck Wednesday morning in which a car driven by Kevin Maschino, 55, Seymour, struck a parked piece of maintenance equipment on the Louisville & Indiana Railroad crossing on Bruce Street. Maschino was treated for a cut at Schneck Medical Center.

Railroad maintenance equipment jarred a Seymour man Wednesday, sending him to Schneck Medical Center for examination.

Kevin Maschino, 55, of South Chestnut Street struck the parked equipment, called a ballast regulator, while driving east on Bruce Street around 7:30 a.m. He was taken to the hospital after complaining of pain, Seymour Police Cpl. Tim Toborg with said.

Glass from his vehicle’s shattered windshield peppered his face, police said.

“He needed a couple of stitches,” Toborg said of Maschino’s injuries. “His nose was cut by the bridge of his eyeglasses.”

Maschino was expected to be released from the emergency room.

The driver cited the sun’s glare as the cause of the wreck.

“The sun was right in line with the crossing, and he didn’t see the flashers or the piece of equipment,” Toborg said. “He just drove right into it. The railroad flashers were all working.”

The ballast regulator was parked on the Louisville & Indiana Railroad tracks just south of Tipton Street while its operator, Daniel Becker, 33, Connersville, flipped a switch from the side rail to the main line.

“I was getting ready to start work,” he said.

Becker was off the equipment when it was struck. He was not injured.

The tail of the equipment hung out into the intersection while stopped.

That tail, a V-shaped piece of heavy metal similar to a snow plow, drove into the right side of the car, smashing the door frame and buckling the windshield. Maschino had no passengers.

“I guess he didn’t see it because of the sun,” Becker said.

A ballast regulator is a combination road grader and street sweeper for railroad tracks.

“It cleans up the track and improves the appearance,” Becker said. “It smooths out the rocks.”

Becker is an employee of All Track Inc. in Pendleton.

No citations will be issued, Toborg said.