KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan was driving through this intersection at the time of the crash. He put in a records request for the surveillance footage. Share your story idea with Charlie.
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Surveillance video obtained exclusively by KSHB 41 News shows a collision between a box truck and a streetcar at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Brookside Boulevard.
The crash took place on Nov. 22. It is the most significant crash involving a streetcar since the KC Streetcar's Main Street Extension opened Oct. 24.
The video shows the box truck driver stopped behind a car at a red light. Then, the truck drives around the car in front of it to turn right on red from Brookside Boulevard onto MLK Boulevard.
Right turns on red are prohibited for vehicles in that position.
As the box truck makes its turn, a streetcar heading northbound enters the intersection and collides with the back end of the box truck.
The streetcar suffered extensive damage and is still not in service as it awaits repairs.
Police wrote the driver of the truck a citation.
Thomas Webster runs the Better Transit KC social media sites. He rides the streetcar every day and has seen close calls at this intersection more than 20 times.
“A message I would have is please look out,” Webster said. “The streetcar is carrying 20 to 50 people, and they have somewhere to be: work, school. You have one vehicle that might have one or two people in it.”
KSHB 41 highlighted concerns at the intersection before the extension opened.
In September, Kansas City’s Director of Transportation Jason Waldron said, “We just ask everyone to have some caution and just consideration for one another, and look left or right one more time than you’re used to.”
The KC Streetcar Authority echoed those comments, asking drivers to obey traffic rules.
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