![]() Tuesday's crash happened on the same line as Metrolink's worst disaster, which left 25 people dead on Sept. "Safe to say it would have been much worse without it," he said. Metrolink spokesman Jeff Lustgarten said the Oxnard crash showed the technology worked. ![]() The crossing has been the scene of many crashes over the years.Īfter one killed 11 people and injured 180 others in Glendale in 2005, Metrolink invested heavily in passenger cars with collapsible bumpers and other features to absorb impact. ![]() With braking, he estimated it would have hit the truck at between 40 mph and 55 mph. The train typically would be accelerating out of the Oxnard station past verdant farm fields at about 55 mph, Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson said. The engineer saw the abandoned vehicle and hit the brakes, but there wasn't enough time to stop, Oxnard Fire Battalion Chief Sergio Martinez said. The train, the first of the morning on the Ventura route, had just left its second stop of Oxnard on its way to downtown Los Angeles when it struck the truck around 5:45 a.m. The NTSB planned to examine the effectiveness of those cars, Sumwalt said. The four passenger cars remained largely intact, as did the locomotive. Lives were likely saved by passenger cars designed to absorb a crash that were purchased after a deadly collision a decade ago, Metrolink officials said. "I opened the window and told everybody, 'Come to my voice.'"Įight people were admitted to the hospital of the 30 people originally examined, officials said. He was banged up from head to toe but managed to find an escape for himself and others. "A brush of death definitely came over me."īingham said the lights went out when the train fell over. "It seemed like an eternity while we were flying around the train. Passenger Joel Bingham said many of those aboard the train were asleep and shocked awake when the loud boom first happened. Sumwalt said his team had recovered video and data recorders from the train to be analyzed. In the Tuesday crash, flames engulfed his Ford F-450 pickup, but investigators said the engine was intact and may offer clues about what happened. In 2004, Ramirez was convicted of a local driving infraction in Yuma, and in 2007, he was cited for failure to obey a traffic control device. 08 percent - the legal limit in the state - failure to obey a police officer, having liquor with a "minor on the premises" and having no insurance, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. Police said they tested Sanchez-Ramirez for drugs and alcohol but they would not discuss the results.Ĭriminal records in his home state of Arizona show Sanchez-Ramirez pleaded guilty in 1998 to a host of violations in a single DUI case, including driving with a blood-alcohol content above. "We're very concerned about that, we're very interested in it," he said, adding that both the badly wrecked truck's emergency brake and high-beams headlights were on. towing capacity using a rear differential that holds between 3.3 and 3.5 quarts of fluid."It was not stuck, it was not bottomed out on the track or something like that," National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said at a media briefing late Tuesday. using a rear differential that held 3.75 quarts of gear lube. Back in 1996, maximum towing capacity was 10,500 lbs. Meanwhile, differential fluid capacities have largely decreased or remained the same.įor example, compare a 1996 Ford F-250 Crew Cab to the 2021 version. The truck manufacturer’s ongoing arms race for the highest towing capacity has resulted in trucks that place more stress on differentials than their predecessors. Why the varying fluid-change intervals? Because severe operating conditions break down differential fluid more quickly and place greater stress on the gears and bearings, inviting wear. The only way to know the exact mileage interval is to check your owner’s manual or visit the dealership. If you drive your truck primarily on the highway in temperate conditions and rarely tow or haul, you likely don’t need to change front or rear differential fluid very often.īut, if you tow a trailer or haul supplies frequently and the temperature fluctuates as wildly as your health insurance premium, then you need to change differential fluid more often. How often you should change front and rear differential fluid depends on your vehicle, driving conditions and differential fluid quality.
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