The Avenay-Val-d'Or level crossing, July 15, 2019. -

FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI / AFP

In July 2019, a collision between a train and a car left four dead, including three children in Avenay-Val-d'Or (Marne).

A report from the Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau points to the responsibility of the driver of the vehicle.

“The direct cause of the accident is the non-stop of the light vehicle at the closed level crossing.

The presence in the body of the driver of a drug in a toxic dose very likely played a role in the occurrence of the accident by altering her driving skills ”, concludes the investigation report posted on November 9 on the BEA-TT website and revealed by

the Union

newspaper

.

An investigation still ongoing

"The expert appraisals carried out on the light vehicle, on the train and on the level crossing equipment did not reveal any indication that could lead to consider that a technical problem could have been the cause or a factor of the occurrence of this accident" , supports the BEA-TT.

“This report is part of other elements of the case.

The investigation opened for manslaughter against X is still ongoing ”, tempered with AFP the prosecutor of Reims Matthieu Bourrette.

“I am still waiting for some expertise.

I hope to be able to obtain them as soon as possible to quickly complete the investigation, ”he added.

"It's brutal to find this report online without the parents being warned, as is the custom," said Mr. Gérard Chemla, the lawyer for two of the three families of victims.

The level crossing pointed out

The family of the driver, she continues to blame this tragedy on malfunctions of the crossing.

He also said to await the result of "additional investigations in progress", also mentioned by the prosecution.

"And the driver of the straddle carrier who found himself between two barriers on July 15, 2020, was he under psychotropic drugs?"

“, Launches the lawyer from Reims to AFP.

One year after the tragedy, a wine tractor was indeed stuck a few inches from the track with the barrier on the passenger compartment while a train was arriving.

The accident of July 15, 2019 between a Regional Express Train on the Epernay-Reims link and a car left four dead: the driver of the car, a 37-year-old childminder, her 10-year-old daughter and two 3-year-old children and 10 months she was carrying.

Four of the twenty or so TER travelers were slightly injured in the collision.

Miscellaneous

Accident at the level crossing in the Marne: Around 500 people pay tribute to the four victims

Miscellaneous

Ain: two dead in a collision between a train and a car

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