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Posted on Sat, May 25, 2013 : 1:48 p.m.

Amtrak train strikes semi-trailer in Ann Arbor Township

By Cindy Heflin

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Editor's note: This article was updated at 2:50 p.m. with information from the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office about at 4:30 p.m. with information from Amtrak.

An Amtrak passenger train struck a semitrailer carrying kayaks on the tracks near North Maple Road and Huron River Drive in Ann Arbor Township Saturday afternoon.

No one was injured in the crash, which occurred about 12:50 p.m., said Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office spokesman Derrick Jackson.

The train struck the semitrailer, splitting it in two, Jackson said. One half lay on the north side of the tracks with kayaks spilled out shortly before 2 p.m. The other half lay on its side on the south side of the tracks.

Jackson said the truck driver had been rerouted to Huron River Drive from his original route, After discovering he could not cross the one-lane bridge over the river because the truck was too heavy and too wide, he tried to back up.

While he was trying to maneuver the rig back across the tracks with the help of another man, the train began approaching and the crossing gate came down. The trailer was still on the tracks when the westbound Amtrak train came through the crossing. The driver was able to get out of the truck cab before the crash occurred.

Passenger Mary Bak, who got on the train in Dearborn, where she lives, said she didn't even feel the crash. “I just noticed we were stopped and then we were told that the train hit somebody.”

Another passenger, Gabrielle Dickson, who also boarded the train in Dearborn, said she heard and felt the crash and then saw the split open trailer and the spilled kayaks. Passengers were told no one was injured, she said.

John Biancke lives near the railroad tracks. He and his wife were working outside when they heard the commotion.

"We were out in the yard and heard a thump and knew that something unusual had happened."

An Amtrak spokeswoman said the train was the Wolverine 353, which runs between Pontiac and Chicago. It was carrying 253 people, including passengers and crew, Vernae Graham said.

The train, which had two locomotives and about six passenger cars, was still blocking the railroad crossing at North Maple Road about 2:30 p.m. Passengers were still on the train.

As of about 4:15 p.m., the train had been cleared to continue on its route, but officials were waiting for the completion of a track inspection before proceeding, Graham said.

The westbound Wolverine runs daily between Pontiac and Chicago three times a day. The 353's scheduled departure from Pontiac was 10:35 a.m. It was to have departed Ann Arbor at 12:17 p.m. and arrive in Chicago at 3:38 p.m.

An eastbound Amtrak train was also been delayed by the accident. The Wolverine 350, which runs between Chicago and Pontiac, and had been scheduled to arrive in Ann Arbor at 1:05 p.m., was waiting on a siding near Chelsea, Graham said at 4:15 p.m. About 3:15 p.m., Jackson said the train was stopped somewhere near Chelsea waiting for the track in Ann Arbor Township to be cleared.


View Amtrak-semi crash in a larger map

Ann Arbor freelance journalist Lisa Carolin contributed to this report.

Comments

Eli

Mon, May 27, 2013 : 1:26 a.m.

Anyone know where the kayaks are being sold, hopefully now at discount?

jns131

Mon, May 27, 2013 : 1:06 p.m.

Up the Creek without A Paddle. Might have a few cracks in it, but still sea worthy.

amlive

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 3:38 p.m.

Seems that commercial drivers would have map programs with weight/size restrictions programmed in to them by now. If not, I see a market for this - maybe even linked to live train route/position data (and maybe live speed trap cloud sharing). I'm sure the data is all out there, someone just needs to get access to it and link it all together, and you've got a product with obvious value.

Richard Wickboldt

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 1:09 p.m.

Lucky nobody is hurt. However I think it would have been much different if the train was traveling at 110 MPH, which soon they will be. My head spins when everybody talks about and pushes this concept of high speed rail travel here in MI and across the country. When the rail heads aren't even designed and built for such fast speeds safely. The other sorry full thing happens to be; this country is now broke with 17 Trillion dollars of debt and we can't afford to build a real and safe modern high speed rail system for the future. We have let our politicians modify the tax code so the very wealthy and corporations pay no or little taxes and get most of the money, while the government has borrowed trillions of dollars to make up the shortfall. Hmmm... I wonder what the founding fathers would have done when their British government was screwing up? What is the saying... History repeats itself.

chapmaja

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 8:08 p.m.

They will not be going 110 mph in that section of tracks. I kow Amtrak, and the state want to increase train speeds, but there are certain laws of physics that will make 110 mph impossible. The biggest issue is the fact this line IS NOT STRAIGHT. Speed limits are limited by the amount of curvature in the track structure. Between the big curve in Dexter, and Ann Arbor there are a lot of curves, which limit the speed the trains can travel. Once the train gets west of Dexter, then it can increase speed, but it still will not be 110 mph trackage until well west of Jackson.

jns131

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 2:48 p.m.

I agree with this one.

Jim Osborn

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 1:26 p.m.

Look no further than Los Angeles and Metrolink It was build on existing tracks in the 1990s and since comming online, several hundred people have died at railroad crossing accidents at poorly marked railroad crossings. These crossings were designed for slower train speeds, smaller interesctions, but they are still "legally safe crossings" up to the legal 79 MPH. My mother died at one crossing in Burbank that had 10 accidents prior to her deadly crash, including a fatality 3 years earlier that killed 2 and injured 34. Still it is deemed a "legally safe crossing" and remains unchanged. The NTSB made many "suggestions" but has no power. The railroads and cities always blame the drivers, who are usually dead and cannot defent themselves. this saves them money, but does not solve the real problem of needing to make crossing safer. Even police cars have beter LED lights, and Ohio has proposed a better crossing sign, similar to whar Germany uses.

umichjim

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 1:06 p.m.

From the photos, it looks like the truck took out the warning lights and crossing gate on the north side of the track. Is this crossing open to vehicle traffic?

chapmaja

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 8:12 p.m.

I'm sure it is. However the restriction may come from the railroad. Depending on the rule codes in place for the section of railroad, this could be controlled by 1 signal, or more than likely will become a stop and flag crossing. A stop and flag crossing would require and the train to stop short of the crossing and then an employee would dismount the locomotive, pull into the crossing, watching for traffic, before re-boarding the train and continuing on. The other possibility, although it becomes highly unlikely due to this recent accident, is that the crossing gets a temporary stop sign placed at the crossing, which by law would require any vehicle to stop at the crossing, determine if it is clear, then proceed. Unfortunately this would require drivers to actually follow a stop sign, which is becoming a lost skill.

KJMClark

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 11:34 a.m.

The sad thing is that a few minutes either way and it all would have been a near miss. Look at the map of the area - he had plenty of room to pull the truck *forward* to get off the tracks. The approach on that direction for that bridge is pretty long and wide. It's just the bridge itself that's too narrow. A few minutes before the train went by, and the driver was probably clear of the tracks, checking the weight/size limit information on the bridge and giving it some thought. A few minutes later and they would have had the truck clear of the tracks onto Huron River Drive. And the kayaks they have laying on the side in that picture couldn't have weighed much of anything. The one the firefighter is carrying is a Wilderness Systems Tarpon fishing kayak ($1000 msrp!) that weighs 70#. There doesn't look like more than 30 there. That's a *really* light load for a semi.

jns131

Mon, May 27, 2013 : 1:05 p.m.

My reply to your post got deleted. OK I get it. But to the long story short of it? Try driving one of these backwards and then come see me after you get lucky.

Jim Osborn

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 11:24 a.m.

The crossing accident at Maple and Huron River Drive was easily preventable. What is lacking are better crossing signs that are much more visible and in this specific case. Either signage on HRD that alerts trucks not to turn north onto Maple or a turn around place if they do is needed. Clearly, backing over active railroad tracks is onto the thing to do. We should be thankful that a load of boats was damaged instead of school bus or a motor home with passengers, driven by a driver new to the area. Yes, this is a "legal crossing" and this is a big part of the problem. So much more can be done to make crossings safer, and we need to do so as we increase the usage of passenger trains.

Jim Osborn

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 11:29 a.m.

Part of what I wrote dissapeared. It should have been "backing over active railroad tracks onto" HURON RIVER DRIVE IS NOT "the thing to do."

Craig Lounsbury

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 10:50 a.m.

"Jackson said the truck driver had been rerouted to Huron River Drive from his original route, After discovering he could not cross the one-lane bridge over the river because the truck was too heavy and too wide, he tried to back up." Where did he think he was going on that section of Maple Road?

Craig Lounsbury

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 4:35 p.m.

I would suggest folks driving vehicles with road restrictions can't rely on GPS to that extent. Thats part of why you have a CDL.

jns131

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 2:43 p.m.

The detour signs for Miller Road is extremely confusing. If you are using GPS you will end up going past Skyline to the bottom to Huron River Drive. OK, I understand that part, but here in lies the other problem. How earth did he manage to get that far to the bridge? I will never know. Only GPS can tell.

Cindy Heflin

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 4:01 a.m.

MDOT has this information about the bridge: This bridge is one of two metal truss bridges in Michigan dating from 1876, making it one of the oldest in the state. The builder, the Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio, was one of the most prolific nineteenth century metal truss bridge companies in the midwest, with numerous Michigan bridges.

jns131

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 2:41 p.m.

The new Delhi Bridge does have a sign on it stating the Wrought Iron Bridge Company on it. Pretty cool to over that thing. I do like the stop lights on it as well.

anotherannarborite

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 2:32 a.m.

From my time transcribing for Dept. of Motor Vehicles court proceedings many years ago, it's the company that will reroute trucks. There are many laws around truck routes (routes trucks are allowed to go on to get to their destination) and the tickets are hefty for not following these truck routes, so I really doubt it was the driver that rerouted himself.

a2tom

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 2:14 a.m.

Here's my question....how do you even BEGIN to think about making that right onto the bridge with that kind of load?

Ann English

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 1:23 a.m.

I had expected to read that the semi caused the gates to break. But the last thumbnail photo shows that the whole railroad crossing sign, lights,bells and all, came down. Smart, considerate driver, in the light of the Seattle bridge collapse; he knew the weight of his vehicle, so he knew he could not cross the river using Foster Bridge.

jcj

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 2:27 a.m.

Not even on the bridge let alone half way across. But he never should have turned onto Maple in the first place.

a2citizen

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 1:46 a.m.

Yeah, sure,...after he was half way across. Real smart.

Top Cat

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 1:02 a.m.

No one got hurt. The train didn't get hurt. That is what is important.

kindred spirit

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 12:41 a.m.

High speed trains would help because they are built above road level and never intersect a road and do not share space with local trains. A bullet train from Ann Arbor to Chicago--WOW.

Top Cat

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 1:01 a.m.

As long as you are going to pay for it..

Tom Joad

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 11:52 p.m.

Take Google maps with a grain of salt

mw

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 9:54 p.m.

There's going to be one heck of a dinged kayak sale somewhere! Maybe he was trying to get on Maple after going over that really bad stretch of HRD just east of that - too many potholes were damaging his merchandise. Seriously, what WAS the driver doing on HRD?

mady

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 5:05 p.m.

I want a dinged kayak!! great conversation piece.

KJMClark

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 11:40 a.m.

Delivering kayaks to Skips Canoe Livery? They're just off Huron River Drive on Delhi.

Ann English

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 12:57 a.m.

I don't know about GPS, but Garmin often tells its users to go extra distances, unaware of winding gravel roads that could be used instead.

hepcat

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 10:05 p.m.

I heard that he was following his GPS.

Brad

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 10 p.m.

Apple maps?

Halter

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 9:21 p.m.

This is no doubt the WORST crossing along the way...I've called in problems a half dozen times there the past year, and its another accident waiting to happen. Granted this time it was bad judgement by this truck driver. But often the gates come down and the train alarm rings for hours and hours without a train in site. Residents just pull around them across the tracks since there is no other crossing site to get to the northern properties here. Any one of them could get stuck on those tracks. Nobody official seems to care.

Ann English

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 12:55 a.m.

No other crossing site to get to the northern properties here? Further northwest on Huron River Drive, there's a railroad crossing at River Pines Drive. Shortly beyond that, HRD itself crosses the river. And there immediately beyond that bridge, are properties, both on Tubbs Road and Huron River Drive. HRD itself does NOT cross back over the river anywhere to the northwest of Tubbs. Or do you mean the Barton Hills properties? I can see why its residents living on the west side would want to use Maple Road instead of entering Barton Hills from the east side (Whitmore Lake Road). Years ago, early one morning, I found a freight train stopped, blocking both Maple Road and Huron River Drive near River Pines Drive, I had to use the East Delhi Road railroad crossing to get where I needed to go. What, Halter, do you mean by "along the way..." The way to Dexter? The way to homes on the north side of the Huron in general? The way to Barton Hills?

Sue

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 9:09 p.m.

This is the main reason I hate taking Amtrak over Megabus; there are ALWAYS delays. When I was traveling to Chicago in Feb, I came very close to missing my daughter's engagement party because our train hit a car on the tracks. I mean, really, in this day and age, we should be able to provide RELIABLE FAST service!

SonnyDog09

Mon, May 27, 2013 : 1:27 p.m.

My favorite train delay excuse is "leaves on tracks" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_rail

jns131

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 2:39 p.m.

You also forgot hurricanes and snow storms. Documented for that one.

Daniel1966

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 11:35 p.m.

I understand that Amtrak is very delay prone.The weather,suicides,and crossing accidents contribute to them as well as freight interference, track work and other Amtrak trains.I just wonder how you can fault the railroad for circumstances that is well out of Amtraks control.As far as I know there is no Reliable transportation system anywhere in Michigan.If you drive and come across an accident or construction----DELAY.If you fly and a plane has a mechanical problem or weather -----DELAY.If you are on a cruise and the power goes out-----well thats just wrong but----DELAYS.Sure Amtrak is easy to pick on cause it is late --alot however look at what causes the delays and then you will see how much of it is not the fault of the railroad.

Hot Sam

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 9:04 p.m.

You can see this little antique bridge from HRD...why would you even make the turn??? Duhhhh!

Hot Sam

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 2:52 p.m.

@Ann...the bridge is clearly in sight from HRD...

jns131

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 2:38 p.m.

Glad we did not have another Washington disaster. All that driver did was apologize. Duh. Truck drivers really need to be more careful next time.

Ann English

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 12:33 a.m.

The driver could see, up close, that it is too narrow for his semi; nobody can see, from a distance, how narrow Foster Bridge is, just how short it is.

KateT

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 8:04 p.m.

I was at a wine tasting on the Empire Builder bound for Seattle when we hit a trailer in Montana.

Here

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 8:02 p.m.

That's for the update but I remain mystified as to why the driver was anywhere near this location. "...driver had been rerouted to Huron River Drive from his original route" Huh? Who or what rerouted him? Why did he turn north of HRD? Does this mean that "mistakes were made"?

ahblid

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 6:27 p.m.

KJMClark, The problem with giving 2 minutes of warning time is that you'll get drivers who are impatient and will figure that since they see and hear nothing (assuming that they even bother to open the window and turn down the radio) that no train is coming and the gates are just broken. So they'll drive around just in time to get creamed by the train.

jns131

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 2:37 p.m.

Let me ease some confusion on this one. Miller Road is now detoured to one lane heading to downtown Ann Arbor. There are signs that state truck route. This route carries them over to Dexter Ann Arbor Road heading downtown Ann Arbor. The signs are extremely confusing and I hate to say it, GPS is one big screw up in of itself. Trust you me GPS told us this one route around the mountains is what we wanted. Guess what? Ended up going thru the mountains. With a trailer. Trust you me. I will never trust GPS in mountains again. Ever. Glad to hear the truck driver is not up the creek without a paddle or a kayak to boot.

KJMClark

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 11:56 a.m.

Actually, I think the mistakes were made in the crossing itself. Since the sight lines for the train aren't very good headed westbound, the crossing signals/gates should probably come down sooner. Giving the truck driver two minutes would have given him time to pull forward, which he had room to do. As it was, the poor guy probably froze for a few seconds and didn't have time to think of that. In the future on crossings like this one, they'll probably put in a laser/radar detection system on the tracks. It'll cost too much to separate the tracks from the road. But that kind of system is cheap and can let them know well before the train gets there if someone's on the tracks.

Jim Osborn

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 11:33 a.m.

Either signage on HRD that alerts trucks not to turn north onto Maple or a turn around place if they do is needed. Clearly, backing over active railroad tracks onto Huron River Drive is not the thing to do.

Ann English

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 12:31 a.m.

I'm glad this driver was smart enough NOT to try using Foster Bridge; if he had, he would have damaged the bridge. Years ago, when eastbound M-14 was closed to North Main traffic so drivers used a HRD-Maple Rd. detour, a lot of people asked for directions from Maple and Stein Roads. Or is that part of M-14 closed to northbound North Main traffic right now? Once again? I did read part of that stretch was being re-surfaced this season.

hepcat

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 10:02 p.m.

I heard from one of the nearby neighbors of the crash site that the driver was using GPS.

Cindy Heflin

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 8:19 p.m.

Those are good questions, Here. I did ask about that, but at the moment this information is not available.

Nicholas Urfe

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 7:40 p.m.

Remind me again why we need to spend a Billion dollars on higher speed trains that will get stuck and stopped, with no ability to detrour, whenever something like this happens. Buses are cheap and they can detour. Fix the roads, forget the trains.

ahblid

Mon, May 27, 2013 : 3:23 p.m.

Nicholas, Sorry, but even with those capital costs, rail still wins. And there is no need for any deception either. Thanks to that huge disparity in operating costs, the capital costs of rail are negated. Once again I'm going to return to Portland, and again let me remind you that they moved people just as far by rail as they did by bus in 2011. According to the NTD data adding up all the capital costs and operating costs for both rail and the buses from 1996 through 2011, we find the following: Portland tax payers have spent $2.905 Billion all in on light rail during that 16 year period. Portland tax payers have spent $3.111 Billion all in on buses. If Portland were to stop building new lines tomorrow, the above $200 Million gap will grow to over $1 Billion in favor of rail in less than 10 years. Let me put that into 1 line; to do the same job, Portland spent $2.905B on rail and $3.111B on buses combined capital & operating over 16 years. Rail is cheaper! Why do you want higher taxes?

Nicholas Urfe

Mon, May 27, 2013 : 12:11 p.m.

@Ahblid: Your operating costs ignore the billions in dedicated infrastructure required for rail. Such is the deception that typically accompanies the train argument. Because the numbers just don't work. Buses, of course, run on our existing roads.

ahblid

Mon, May 27, 2013 : 4:53 a.m.

JRW, If you wan the roads to be fixed, then you'd best be prepared to start paying more for that to happen. Because as of 2010, we drivers and yes I'm one, only manage to cover 42% of the costs of our highways via fuel taxes and other direct fees. The rest of the more than $200 Billion annual combined Federal & State spending is all subsidy. People love to complain about big bad Amtrak, but the subsidies to drivers are far greater than those to Amtrak. According to the Taxpayer's Receipt for 2009, a married couple with 2 kids and $80K in income watched $3.83 of their Federal income tax dollars go to Amtrak. That same couple saw $110.06 of their Federal income taxes go into the highways. That's on top of what they paid via fuel taxes and various state taxes. We're talking the price of a gallon of gas basically vs. a weeks worth of groceries for some families. A retired couple with $100K in income saw $3.11 go to Amtrak and $89.38 go to the highways, even if they can no longer drive a car, much less own one.

JRW

Mon, May 27, 2013 : 1:18 a.m.

Totally agree, Nicholas. FIX the roads!

ahblid

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 6:25 p.m.

Nicholas, You're link compares the operating costs per hour from the National Transit Database, which is the same source for my numbers which are the costs to move 1 person 1 mile. And that is the most important metric when it comes to measuring transit, how many miles did people get moved. And again, according to the NTD, it costs 90 cents per passenger mile to move people by bus, 40 cents to do it by commuter rail or heavy rail (subways & L's). To get the job done with light rail costs 60 cetns per pax/mile. However, there is an easier way to put all this debate behind us. Out in Portland, Oregon in 2011 they moved 215,384,677 passenger miles by light rail train and 219,728,219 passenger miles by bus. Yet they spent $222,887,559 operating those buses and only $93,399,347 operating light rail. This despite the fact that it costs them $136.19 per hour to operate the buses and $175.18 to operate light rail. Note: These are the 2011 numbers, your source averaged 2010 & 2011 together. http://www.ntdprogram.gov/ntdprogram/pubs/profiles/2011/agency_profiles/0008.pdf The author of that piece forgot all about the fact, despite his having mentioned it earlier, that it takes many more buses to move the same number of people. This is why his conclusion is flawed. He only considered the hourly operating costs, and not how many vehicles were operating. This is not to suggest that we should just up & throw away our buses. The author is correct that you don't want rail lines every place, only in the busier places. But he is also incorrect that you need a LA or NY sized city to have a successful light rail system. Portland is doing just fine. So is Salt Lake City for that matter, which has one of the lowest population densities of any city with light rail. But unless you actually like higher taxes, it is time to get onboard with passenger rail. A city with a bus only solution is a city paying higher taxes.

Peregrine

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 4:22 p.m.

@N. Urfe: You provide a link comparing buses to "light rail". Claiming it's comparing "trains" in general is very misleading. It's not hard to imagine that long-haul trains w/ many more cars and w/ fewer stops have a different cost profile. Do you have a better cost comparison?

Peter Hochgraf

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 3:29 p.m.

The link you posted. Compares city buses to Light Rail. LR is things like trams & subway systems. HSR is a completely different beast then LR.

Nicholas Urfe

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 3:10 p.m.

The cost to operate buses per passenger is much lower than trains. Additionally, the bus infrastructure is dynamic and flexible, not being constrained by terrifically expensive dedicated infrastructure. The roads buses require are already built and not owned by rail barrons. http://publictransport.about.com/od/Transit_Vehicles/a/What-Are-The-True-Operating-Cost-Differences-Between-Bus-And-Light-Rail.htm

a2citizen

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 10:29 p.m.

"...and they can detour..." So can trucks...and look what happened to this truck when it detoured.

ahblid

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 10:09 p.m.

Nicholas, Buses aren't cheap. Sure, just buying 1 bus is cheap compared to a train. The problem is you need many, many more buses to do the job of just 1 train. Further buses only last 10 to 12 years, while a rail car lasts 30 to 40 years. That means you have to buy 3 sets of buses to do the same job. Then we come to the fact that buses cost a lot more to operate than trains do. On average in this country it costs 90 cents per passenger mile to move people by bus. It costs 40 cents per passenger mile to move people using commuter trains, the closest rail equivalent to Amtrak. Finally, those buses run on our heavily subsidized roads & highways, and in the case of public buses they pay no fuel taxes to help fix the damage that they cause. Buses are one of the most expensive ways to move people!

johnnya2

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 9:39 p.m.

You have got to be kidding me? Would you like to compare highway DEATH tolls to trains? How about the number of hours of delays people have due to roads being closed due to traffic accidents. One thing in the world is certain, build more roads and there will be MORE traffic accidents. Oh, for the record, the people on the train were the people who were safest. The people in the truck were in the most danger. We need MORE trains and fewer drivers.

mabb

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 7:45 p.m.

The fault was with the truck driver - semi trucks are not allowed on that bridge--trucks leave a bigger carbon print than trains

Homeland Conspiracy

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 7:38 p.m.

Can I buy one of the kayaks CHEAP?

Richard Carter

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 7:40 p.m.

Don't worry about those cracks in the hull... they are merely decorative.

mabb

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 7:31 p.m.

The truck driver was in his cab when the accident occurred. He was unharmed

Cindy Heflin

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 7:41 p.m.

Hello mabb: Derrick Jackson told me the driver got out of the cab before the crash. Do you have information to the contrary?

justcary

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 6:50 p.m.

Glad nobody was hurt, but what a terrible kayaksident.

Ann English

Sun, May 26, 2013 : 12:22 a.m.

I had expected to read that the kayaks were spilled into the Huron River itself; It's a good thing that didn't happen, or else the current would have taken the kayaks downstream, and they would have to be chased.

L'chaim

Sat, May 25, 2013 : 9:26 p.m.

Canoe imagine such a thing?

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