Coroner identifies woman who died after crash involving train and SUV

UPDATE

Bonneville County Coroner Rick Taylor identified the woman as Mary Johnson, 48, of Bonneville County. She died due to traumatic internal injuries. Taylor said she was not wearing a seatbelt.

ORIGINAL STORY

BONNEVILLE COUNTY — A woman has died after the vehicle she was in was pushed off train tracks and went down an embankment.

The incident happened Wednesday around 5 p.m. near the intersection of 65th South and South Yellowstone Highway in Bonneville County.

Deputies and Idaho Falls firefighters were called to a “vehicle vs. train crash” and when they arrived, witnesses were helping a 48-year-old SUV driver.

Fire crews extricated the woman from the vehicle and transported her to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, where she later died due to her injuries, a news release from the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office said. 

Witnesses told deputies the SUV was stopped on the tracks between the crossing arms and back from the stop light at the intersection facing westbound.

A northbound Union Pacific train had activated emergency braking procedures and its horn approximately a quarter mile before the crossing but was unable to stop before hitting the vehicle, the news release said. 

Nobody else was inside the vehicle except for the woman. No other injuries were reported and her name has not been released.

Deputies reminded drivers and pedestrians to be careful around trains, railroad crossings, and tracks. 

“Trains can operate at any time of the day or night and have the right of way at almost all crossings…always stay back from the tracks behind lights and crossing arms and painted stop lines to allow clearance for the train to come through. Obey blinking red crossing lights by stopping and looking both directions before you cross, and never drive around crossing arms,” the sheriff’s office said.