Get out.

That is the answer.

If your car stalls, bottoms out, or gets boxed in on a railroad crossing anywhere in West Virginia, whether that is along U.S. 60 in Kanawha County, a crossing near Parkersburg, or a backroad crossing in Mason or Cabell County, do not sit there trying to restart it while the seconds burn off.

Get every person out of the vehicle immediately.

Then move away from the tracks at an angle, in the direction of an oncoming train if you can tell which way it is coming from. That sounds backward, but it matters. If a train hits your vehicle, debris tends to fly forward and outward. You do not want to be standing where that wreckage is going.

Here is where most people screw this up: they call 911 first and think that handles everything.

911 matters. But the railroad matters faster.

At public railroad crossings, there is usually a blue-and-white Emergency Notification System sign mounted near the crossing signal or crossbuck. That sign has a phone number and a crossing ID. Call that number as soon as you are clear. Give them the crossing ID. That gets word to the railroad dispatcher who can warn or stop train traffic on that line. The dispatcher is the one with the real-time ability to protect the track.

So the order is simple:

• Get everyone out.
• Move well away from the tracks and away from the crossing.
• Call the number on the blue emergency sign and give the crossing ID.
• Then call 911 if there is injury, fire, or an immediate danger scene.

If the gates are down and your car is still running, drive through the damn gate if that is what it takes to get off the tracks. Those gate arms are made to break away. A busted crossing arm is nothing compared with a train plowing into your car.

If your vehicle is hung up because the road is crowned high over the rails, which happens more than people think with low-clearance cars, tow dollies, trailers, moving trucks, and long-wheelbase pickups, do not waste precious time debating whether you can rock it loose. In spring, that problem gets worse. West Virginia roads take a beating through freeze-thaw season. Pavement heaves, approaches settle, and crossings can feel rougher in March than they did in October. One bad angle, one overloaded trailer, one hesitation in traffic, and now you are stuck where you should never be stuck.

And no, you should not assume you will hear the train in time.

In the hills and river valleys of West Virginia, sound plays tricks. Curves, cuts, trees, rain, and wind can all swallow noise. A train can come around a bend faster than your brain expects, especially if you are panicking and burning time on the wrong thing.

Another ugly detail: people freeze because they think they will get in trouble for damaging railroad equipment or leaving a vehicle behind.

Forget that.

You can replace a car. You cannot bargain with a locomotive.

If there are children in the car, pull them out first and do not let anyone run back for a phone, purse, work bag, or whatever else feels important in the moment. That stuff becomes junk the second steel is bearing down on the crossing.

West Virginia drivers also get trapped on crossings for a dumber reason: traffic backup on the far side. This happens near industrial corridors, river towns, and tight in-town crossings where a red light sits just beyond the rails. Never enter the crossing unless you can clear the whole thing. Not your front bumper. The whole vehicle. If you are towing anything, that means all of it.

Commercial drivers already know this rule, or they should. So do school bus drivers and hazmat carriers, who face stricter crossing rules. But regular drivers get impatient. They follow the car ahead, stop on the tracks, and suddenly realize they have nowhere to go. That is how a routine commute turns into a nightmare in about five seconds.

If the crossing has no gates, no lights, or the sign is damaged, still get out and call 911, but look around for the crossing number posted on nearby equipment or the crossbuck area. If you can safely identify the road name, the railroad crossing, and the nearest intersection, that helps emergency dispatch and the railroad narrow it down fast.

Do not try to outrun a train by backing up at the last second if traffic has boxed you in. Do not waste time arguing with passengers. Do not stand near the car filming it. And do not assume the train can stop because you finally noticed it.

It usually cannot.

Freight trains can take more than a mile to stop. Even if the crew sees you, physics does not care. Steel wheels on steel rails are brutally efficient when moving and brutally bad at stopping on command.

If you drive often in West Virginia coal country, along the Kanawha River, in the Huntington area, through the Northern Panhandle, or anywhere tracks run close to highways and industrial roads, take five seconds the next time you cross and look for that blue emergency sign. Seriously. Find it before you need it. Under stress, people miss obvious things. They stare at the gates, the lights, the hood, the train, each other. They do not look for the sign that actually solves the problem.

That little blue sign is the difference between a wrecked car and a funeral.