Driver Hospitalized After Train Strikes Car in Bartlett, Calls for Safety Improvements at Crossing Grow Louder

A car was struck by a train in Bartlett yesterday morning, with officials urging drivers to steer clear of the affected area on Stage Road, near the intersection with Sycamore View, FOX13 Memphis reports; the aftermath saw the car's driver hospitalized, said Bartlett Alderman Kevin Quinn.

According to Quinn, who communicated details of the collision through a social media post, the incident prompted road closures between Bartlett Boulevard and Court Avenue, and he highlighted this is not the first notable accident in that vicinity, a similar incident occurring in April when a train hit a funeral limousine, injuring six, as detailed by ABC24.

In an interview with ABC24, Quinn recounted a witness statement claiming the incident occurred after Tennessee Highway Patrol officers pulled over a woman on the tracks. According to Quinn, the woman was stopped and eventually crossed the tracks under someone's direction when she was struck, though it remains unclear whether the trooper had instructed her to proceed.

Additional witness testimony provided to WREG by Jordan Pearce painted a vivid, though harrowing, picture, recounting how the THP trooper signalled the driver to move off the tracks as a train rapidly approached, but confusion seemed to have ensued—compounded by the driver's maneuvers, which eventually led to the collision. "I don’t know how recently he had gone up to the window, but I saw him walk back to his car, and on the way back the train blew a horn and you can see it coming and he like signaled like go, go, go," Pearce said; despite these frantic moments, the vehicle was struck, flinging debris as the woman behind the wheel was left shocked yet conscious, miraculously enough to walk post-crash. Pearce added, “Stuff went flying and she ended up on the opposite side of the train that I was on, so I could see through the gap in the train cars people were running over there and they had their hands up in a gasp, shock kind of thing, but seemed to be talking to the lady."

As the community reckons with the incident, calls for enhanced safety measures at the crossing resonate—although Alderman Quinn, according to ABC24, suggests the intersection has not been a habitual site of accidents, with five incidents over the last 20 years; still, the possibility of introducing a crossing gate is considered, contingent on securing state or federal grants to fund such an undertaking. For now, the Tennessee Highway Patrol is handling the investigation, with updates expected to shed light on the complex interplay of events that led to the near-disastrous altercation between car and train.