A woman named Andrea Gum (The News Virginian, 2013) lost her life when an Amtrak train crashed into her vehicle. She was attempting to cross the train tracks in the Brands Flat area of Augusta County, Virginia. Mrs. Gum was a resident of Goose Creek Road in Augusta County and was only 46 years old.
The details of this awful train accident remain few and far between. Reports indicate that Mrs. Gum was driving her 2001 GMC Jimmy toward Goose Creek Road when the accident occurred. An Amtrak passenger train traveling east slammed into her vehicle as she crossed the tracks. Her vehicle was mangled, as a result of the collision, while the train operators and its passengers were unharmed.
Virginia State Police have not had a chance to interview the conductor of the Amtrak train, as of the date of this posting. We still don’t know whether the train attempted to stop before the wreck.
Unfortunately, train wrecks with tragic consequences are not uncommon in Augusta County. The death of Mrs. Gum marked the third time since May 2013 that a person was killed in the area by a train, according to the News Virginian.
The sad fact is that when a vehicle and a train collide, the result is usually horrific damage inflicted on the vehicle, and everyone inside the vehicle. This is why it is so critical for train operators to be careful when approaching an area that is frequented by motor vehicles. The same caution must be applied by drivers when approaching train tracks.
Once a more thorough investigation has been completed, we’ll have a better idea of what exactly causes this terrible accident to occur.