Truck Driver Was on Hands-Free Device During Maryland Train Derailment, NTSB Says

Federal regulators have released their final report in a 2013 crash between a freight train and a dump truck near Baltimore that caused an explosive derailment and rattled homes a half-mile away.

The National Transportation Safety Board report found the truck driver, John Alban Jr., was distracted and talking on a hands-free cell phone at the time of the crash.

Police have said the truck driver who tried to go through the ungated railroad crossing caused the derailment of the CSX train last May, leading to an explosion and fire in Rosedale, a suburb east of Baltimore. The driver was seriously injured but survived.

In response to the investigation, the NTSB is recommending limits on the use of hands-free phones by all commercial drivers while operating commercial vehicles.

"Current laws may mislead people to believe that hands-free is as safe as not using a phone at all," said acting Chairman Christopher A. Hart in a NTSB press release . "Our investigations have found over and over that distraction in any form can be dangerous behind the wheel."

Alban had answered a call on his hands-free device 18 seconds before the crash, the NTSB found. Alban said he did not hear a warning horn that the train operator sounded one second after he took the call.

The board said limited visibility at the crossing -- due to a curving road, overgrown vegetation and a corroded stop sign -- also contributed to the collision. The board also cited what it called "inadequate federal oversight of the trucking company."

The NTSB found that the company that owns the dump truck, Alban Waste LLC, had a history of failing to comply with federal regulations -- and that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration knew the company had problems, but did not order its trucks off the road.

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"We continue to be concerned with FMCSA’s new entrant program,” Hart said in the news release. “Problem operators keep falling through the cracks.”

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