It could have waited.
A hands-free cell phone call seconds before a truck driver was hit by a freight train as his truck was crossing the tracks is being cited as the main cause of last year’s derailment and explosion in Baltimore County.
The National Transportation Safety Board released its final report Wednesday on the crash that happened May 2013 in Rosedale during a press conference.
Among the recommendations, NTSB urges the prohibition of drivers of commercial vehicles from using a hands-free device while driving.
Christopher Hart, acting chairman of the NTSB, said the driver of the truck received a phone call 18 seconds before the train struck the truck.
“Studies conducted in simulators and in instrumented vehicles have shown that cell phone conversations, including hands-free conversations, can significantly increase cognitive distraction [and] driver reaction time to auditory warning,” Hart said.
He added the driver of the vehicle, John Alban Jr., told investigators that he didn’t hear the train horn until he was on the tracks. “The NTSB maintains that the use of hands-free devices pose an unnecessary safety risk.”
The report also says that the track crossing was not clearly visible because of how the road curves and overgrown vegetation. In addition, nothing was done to address the problem until another collision at the same location, near the 7500 block of Lake Drive, last August.
“[After that collision,] CSX took steps to improve the visibility of the crossing and new stop signs and signs that read ‘private crossing - look’ were installed at both approaches to the crossing,” said Hart.
The NTSB also called for state and CSX officials to work with property owners to improve the visibility of the rail crossing at Lake Drive along with three others nearby.
The Baltimore Sun reported a settlement reached in a lawsuit brought by CSX against Alban Waste, the truck’s owner. Dozens of claims brought against Alban and its insurance provider, Hartford Mutual, have also been settled.