SANDY, Utah, April 18, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A juvenile was struck and killed by a southbound TRAX train Monday morning after going under an activated safety gate.
“It was probably around 7:40 this morning at 8720 South, about 150 East, said Utah Transit Authority Police Chief Dallin Taylor. “There was an individual who was either on his bike or pushing a bike.
“He was heading westbound on at 8720 south. The gate arms were activated and were down, and he went ahead and proceeded through the crossing and was struck by a southbound train.”
Asked to confirm earlier reports that one TRAX train had passed, and the youth may have assumed the tracks were clear, Taylor said he could not yet confirm that was what happened.
“That’s something that we were still looking into. Our detectives are on scene and they’re going through all the evidence on scene. There will be a review of video from our trains to see just exactly what happened.”
The juvenile has been identified, Taylor said, although the child’s name has not yet been released.
Taylor said at about 8:45 a.m. that the roadway around the crossing would be closed for at least an hour.
UTA tweeted at 7:50 a.m. that a bus bridge would be established between Historic Sandy and Draper locations, and that riders should expect delays.
Taylor said that when gate arms are down and lights are flashing, it’s not safe to enter a crossing.
“When those lights are activated, they need to be treated like a red light at an intersection. And don’t proceed through until those lights have turned off…. When they (the arms) come back up, there’s a little pause before the lights go off, and it’s still not safe to proceed until those lights are off.”
