Motorcyclist Dies In Collision With SMART Train In Santa Rosa

SANTA ROSA, CA — A motorcyclist died Wednesday in a collision with a SMART train in Santa Rosa. The fatal incident happened at 3:55 p.m. on the railroad tracks at Guerneville Road, east of N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa police said.

"Witnesses called 911 to report that the motorcyclist might be critically injured and was on fire," SRPD Sgt. Summer Gloeckner said. "The SMART train was also reportedly on fire."

Santa Rosa police and fire personnel were dispatched to the scene and found a man lying on the southwest side of the tracks.

It was confirmed that as a result of the crash, a fire started near the motorcyclist and on a lower part of the train. The train came to a stop at the loading platform south of the intersection, and firefighters quickly arrived to put out the fire, Gloeckner said.

The motorcyclist was immediately pronounced deceased, the sergeant said. His name will not be released by the Sonoma County Sheriff-Coroner's Office until his next of kin are properly notified.

None of the passengers on the train were harmed by the fire, Gloeckner noted.

All lanes of Guerneville Road were closed between N. Dutton and Coffey Lane as officers investigated the fatal crash near the Santa Rosa North SMART station.

SMART acknowledged the collision in a Twitter post and said the southbound 3:49 p.m. train was taken out of service. All other trains and stations were still in service but trains were expected to be delayed by about 20 minutes.

Witnesses told investigators the motorcyclist was traveling at a high rate of speed prior to the collision.

"It appears that the motorcyclist was traveling eastbound on Guerneville Road and had run the red light with N. Dutton Avenue," Gloeckner said. "The train crossing arms had come down at the railroad tracks and traffic was stopped in both the eastbound an westbound directions. The motorcyclist crossed over from the eastbound lanes of Guerneville Road into the westbound lanes and collided with the one of the back cars of the train."

Traffic investigators believe the motorcyclist "made no attempt to stop prior to colliding with the train," Gloeckner said.

It appeared all of the train warning signals were properly functioning, police said.

SMART officials responded and assisted passengers who were on the train at the time of the collision.

Police encouraged anyone with information regarding the incident to call Officer Jeff Adams at 707-543-3636.

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