FedEx driver in Pleasant Hill train crash was 34-year-old Kansas City man
The Missouri State Highway Patrol has identified the victim of a deadly train crash near Pleasant Hill as a 34-year-old Kansas City man.
Patrick Metz was killed after being struck by an Amtrak train near South Hereford and Smart roads around 9:45 a.m Tuesday, according to MSHP’s crash report. The report indicates the victim failed to stop at a stop sign and crossed the tracks before the incoming train ejected him from his vehicle, a FedEx truck.
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Sgt. Bill Lowe, a spokesman for MSHP.
Amtrak said the train was traveling from Kansas City to Chicago when it collided with the delivery vehicle. The 29 passengers as well as crew on board were not injured.
The train was annulled at the scene, and the passengers were brought to their final destination on chartered buses.
The intersection, a private railroad crossing, is marked only by stop signs and crossbucks — signs with a large X that designate a railway crossing, but no flashing lights or gates to alert drivers and passersby to an oncoming train. Passive crossings like these make up about half of the nation’s 130,000 railroad crossings, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
From 2017 to 2022 alone, an investigation by The Star found that a dozen people died at public crossings in Missouri that were on the state’s waiting list for safety upgrades. The report also found that, while nationwide studies have shown that gates and flashing lights significantly decrease collisions at railroad crossings, many still haven’t implemented them.
This story was originally published February 8, 2023 at 4:04 PM.