Video shows train crashing into car in Mingo County, family speaks out about railroad safety

MINGO COUNTY, WV (WOWK) — Mingo County residents are raising concerns over railroad safety after a man’s vehicle was hit by a Norfolk Southern train in Naugatuck on Sunday afternoon.

According to West Virginia State Police, David Maynard, 62, from Kermit was flown to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after his vehicle was struck and overturned.

“It’s a marked crossing, but at the same time you can’t see everything coming down this way and coming that way,” said James Maynard, David Maynard’s son. “I mean it’s right in the curve; so, by the time that somebody crosses and there’s a train coming, they’re already on the tracks.”

A video taken by a nearby home shows the car approaching the crossing as the train starts to near. Even though the video does not have audio, neighbors said they heard the train sound its horn before reaching the crossing. There is a stop sign posted before the tracks, but troopers said Maynard failed to yield to the oncoming train.

Regardless of whose fault it is, the family said there should be better safety measures in place to prevent these types of crashes.

“It’s an important issue to me especially now that it almost took the life of someone I cared about, and it’s not just my family, this is about other families as well,” James Maynard said.

Mingo County residents told 13 News this isn’t the first time there’s been an issue at the railroad crossing near the Mingo County Public Service District and the Naugatuck Church of God.

“There’s been several people, several accidents here, and I know a few most of them weren’t as lucky,” James Maynard said. “There’s been lives lost here and that’s the question we have ‘How many people are gonna have to lose a family members or almost lose a family member before something is done?'”

Johnny Dingess, a family friend, was one of the people on scene that day. He voiced similar concerns to the Maynard family.

“If it had lights or arms or something to let us know that there’s a train coming,” said Dingess. “You just pull up there and you look and you don’t see anything and you approach … What the family needs now is comfort and what they need to know is that somebody is going to help do something about the situation that we’re up against before somebody else loses their life on that railroad track.”

An investigator with Norfolk Southern railways was on scene Monday afternoon. West Virginia State Polices also said they’re investigating the incident.

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