After three court appearances, the General District Court dismissed charges against Diane Mederos of Amissville, whose Jeep SUV was struck by a Norfolk Southern train at the Route 29 crossing Dec. 19, 2012.
"The judge stated no laws were broken by the driver and the case was dismissed," Mederos said. "The judge was familiar with the crossing and spoke to the police officer and stated if the prosecutor could tell him what law the driver had broken he would charge it."
According to Mederos, the judge dismissed the case after court officers could not appropriately charge her.
Initially, police accused Mederos of disregarding signs and roadway markings and stopping on the tracks. The charge of "Failure to Obey a Highway Sign" was changed to "Failure to Stop for Railroad Gate/Barrier" in an earlier court hearing.
Throughout the legal process, Mederos maintained that she did not stop her car on the tracks.
“I stopped in front of the tracks. I was waiting until I had enough room in front of me to clear the tracks before I crossed over. There were two cars behind me. The train sideswiped the front left side of the Jeep, not the rear,” she said after the accident. “I was blindsided and never heard it coming with no warning at all from behind me to the left: no lights, horn, flashing lights, etc.”
Mederos also said in Dec. that there were a number of factors that contributed to the accident, including an unclear stopping zone, insufficient warning signs at the crossing, the distance between the crossing and the tracks and perhaps even a faulty signal.
“The only signs are, ‘Do not stop on the tracks’, which I did not and ‘Stop Here’ with an arrow pointing down at a line next to the lowering gate, when the lights are flashing; they weren’t flashing when I passed the sign in traffic with cars in front and behind me,” she said.
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