Hero driver comforted dying colleague
TORONTO — A large stop sign at the tracks cautions drivers: "Dangerous trains. Do not shift gears when crossing."
Nobody knows if dump driver Rob Douglas was touching his transmission that day last June day as he made his way across those tracks.
His truck was hit by a westbound VIA train, and Douglas succumbed to his injuries in hospital a few days later.
Behind Douglas that day, in another aggregate truck, was driver Jamie Macfarlane. When the passenger train rammed Douglas’ truck. Macfarlane leapt out of his vehicle, fire extinguisher in hand.
He located the badly injured driver and staunched his wounds until emergency personnel arrived and airlifted Douglas to hospital.
It was indeed an act of heroism and courage.
For his efforts, Macfarlane was named the Bridgestone Canadian Truck Hero for 2010 and presented with an elegant acrylic trophy, a jacket and a check for $3,000 at the annual Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) annual conference held in Toronto Friday.
The presentation was underscored by a public commendation by Karen Nancarrow, the cousin of Douglas’s widow, Kim. After the accident, Douglas’ family sought out more information on the hero and as a result, Macfarlane asked Bridgestone to top up the award for the Douglas family, too, so Bridgestone National Fleet Account Manager Paul Dalcourt also presented another $3,000 to the aggrieved family.
Nancarrow brought the room full of conference-going truckers to near tears as she described how much it meant to the family to have somebody present with Douglas as he waited for help.
“We all want somebody to be there with us when the time comes. If that person can’t be a spouse or a family member or a friend, we hope that somebody comes by to hold our hand.
“You,” she said, nodding to Macfarlane, “stayed by Rob’s side and talked to him and helped him until help arrived. For that you are a hero.”
The two men didn’t know each other but, MacFarlane says, “I’d seen him around.”
The crossing has no gates or warning lights and is located on a road leading into the gravel pit.
At the time, Macfarlane was driving a truck owned by the gravel-pit company.
Dalcourt said Macfarlane’s name was chosen as this year’s winner from a strong list of candidates.
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