SALT LAKE CITY — A week after a 23-year-old bicyclist died when he was struck by a FrontRunner train, officials have released footage showing the man was among a number of cyclists who continued to cross the tracks despite warning lights and crossing arms.
Cameron Hooyer, of Salt Lake City, died July 19 at the railroad crossing near 900 South and 600 West. He was one of hundreds participating in a weekly late-night group bike ride across Salt Lake City, known as the 999 Ride. The group meets on Thursday nights at the intersection of 900 South and 900 East at 9 p.m.
In footage released Thursday by the Utah Transit Authority, a large group of the cyclists can be seen stopping when a freight train crossed a little after 11 p.m. on the night of the accident. The startling footage from two perspectives — a steady shot of the crossing and footage from the train — stops a moment before the fatal collision.
The video shows the warning lights flashed and crossing arms came down. The moment the train was clear of the crossing, a wave of riders began crossing the tracks despite the crossing arms still being lowered and flashing.
As the cyclists crossed, the gates rose and the warning lights turned off. Fifteen seconds later, however, the process started again and riders began halting at lowering, illuminated gate. Six bicyclists, including Hooyer, continued to cross at this point, not heeding the warnings.
The FrontRunner train then came down the tracks at a speed of 45 mph.
"To have that many people trespassing, and technically they were trespassing because as you can see from the video they're going underneath the crossing gate, they're going around it," said UTA spokesperson Carl Arky. "They're not paying attention to the lights, they're not paying attention to the bells. The operator's leaning on the horn. He's blasting away."
Arky said the law requires at least 20 seconds of warning before a train enters a crossing. The footage released by the UTA shows the lights on the crossing arms flashed for about 25 seconds before the Frontrunner train hit Hooyer.
Fifteen seconds of the train's horn can be heard blaring before the fatal impact from footage recorded inside the train.
"We feel for the family; we feel for Cameron," Arky said. "It's a tragedy. It's a tragedy that's unnecessary."
Some of the July 19 riders said there was not enough warning, especially due to how quickly the arms raised and lowered between trains.
"Everybody thought it was safe to cross," said Salt Lake City resident Ashley King on July 20. "There were no lights flashing, no bells or anything. I cross these tracks all the time and even from my standpoint, I thought, 'It's safe to cross'"
King said the arms should stay down if there are two trains that are that close together.
"It's absolutely shocking that more people were not injured," she said. "There were just so many people on the track at that moment because the bars went up and everyone flooded onto it to cross."
Hooyer's death has prompted discussion of how to ensure the 999 Ride maintains safe rides across the city despite its size.
"If it's going to disrupt people's normal flow of traffic then we might need to hear from them," said Salt Lake police detective Greg Wilking on July 20.
For future rides, Arky said UTA is encouraging members of the ride group to give officials their planned route so police officers can be stationed at the railroad crossings along the way.