Dumfries residents concerned about road's safety after cars often get stuck on train tracks

DUMFRIES, Va. - FOX 5 News returned to the crash site in Prince William County where a 20-year-old woman's car became caught between train tracks Saturday night.

"This road really needs to be fixed because as I was here, there were one or two other cars that actually got caught on the train tracks while we were here cleaning up the mess from my car," said Ashley Torres.

She escaped harm moments before a train demolished her car, but she fears the close call could happen again.

"The local people who are actually at this restaurant said that they often have to come out here and pull cars off of these tracks," said Torres.

Tim's Rivershore Restaurant and Crabhouse is just steps away from these tracks where Torres' car became caught in a danger zone.

"I've seen or heard of three cars getting hit, but we've had several, maybe up to 10 to 15 cars get stuck on the tracks," said Dave Blick, a manager at Tim's Rivershore. "It's always interesting when we hear that there's somebody stuck. There's a group of people that go running down, literally running down to the tracks."

Blick has worked at the Potomac River staple in Dumfries for more than two decades.

"If you're not familiar with the crossing, it's got kind of a turn as you go over it," said Blick. "If you're not familiar with it, you can cut it a little too sharp and get stuck."

Furthermore, the flush pavement on the tracks is narrow.

"If they maybe lit the outsides of the crossing, it might help as far as some paint or maybe something like that," said Blick.

Michelle Holland, a Virginia Department of Transportation spokesperson, said, "If there's any type of safety issue on any of the roads that it is responsible for, they will go out and address it right away."

Holland said their maintenance team plans to take a look at it.

"I want this road to be fixed," said Torres. "That's another reason I reported this. I want this road to be fixed for people so they don't have to worry about falling off of the train tracks and having their car explode."

Prince William County police confirm this was not the first crash of its kind on these tracks.

A new residential development nearby has increased traffic flow across the tracks. Tim's Rivershore restaurant workers said they keep equipment on hand to help cars that get caught between the tracks.

In Torres' case, the restaurant workers ran out of time before a train approached.