This accident cost the insurance company 3 billion
An impressive crash
Around 2 a.m., our man took the wheel again with a friend in his car, a Citroën Traction in a sorry state and fitted with different tires, including a studded one. Half an hour later, in the town of Bar-le-Duc, this man took a bend too quickly. Unfortunately, the bend was followed by a level crossing, so the car missed the turn and ran aground several meters further on the railroad line between Paris and Strasbourg, a busy track at night with several freight trains per hour.
The Citroën Traction is stuck on the tracks, unable to move forwards or backwards. The driver of the car goes to the crossing to raise the alarm on the emergency phone, but barely has time to arrive and call the guard when the headlights of a train pierce the night at 130 km/h. He is so surprised that he drops the phone. So surprised was he that he dropped the phone. He was so surprised that he dropped the phone.
Two months later, he recounted the moment to the press:
"I saw the headlights of the train piercing the night and dropped the phone. I said to my friend: 'There are two tracks, there's a 50-50 chance'. Then the apocalypse began. I saw my car rise 30 metres into the air and then be thrown 50 metres. The locomotive left the tracks, kept going almost straight on, then hit the bridge, which collapsed. One after the other, the wagons paddled in front of the locomotive into the Marne canal. One, two, three, then the locomotive, then more wagons. I was at the front of the train, I saw the spectacle, I said to myself: this can't be possible, there's no one alive".
The Citroën Traction is stuck on the rails, it can neither go back nor forward. The driver of the car went to the crossing to give the alert on the emergency phone, barely had time to arrive and call the guard that the headlights of a train pierce the night at the speed of 130km/h, the surprise was such that he dropped the phone, he expressed himself on this moment two months later in Paris Match:
