COLUMBUS, Miss. — A tragedy was turned into something positive in Lowndes County.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Lowndes County Road Department announced they will add safety precautions at the railroad crossing on Beersheba Road in Lowndes County, about a quarter-mile from the home of John and Jane Lumsden.
MDOT is scheduled to install large, light-reflective signs and remove trees to improve visibility for motorists approaching the crossing.
The county said they would add rumble strips on the road. Initial steps to have warning lights installed at the crossing are underway.
Those safety measures will close the book on John Lumsden’s long quest to improve safety at the crossing.
According to reports, on February 17, 1976, his daughter, 14-year-old Laura Lumsden, was riding to school with her brother and two friends, when they were involved in an accident with a train.
The car, estimated to have been traveling at 35 mph on impact, smashed into the train, which was already in the crossing.
Laura died as a result of the accident.
Soon after Laura’s death, safety lights were installed at the New Hope Road crossing, but not at the Beersheba Road crossing.
At that time it was just a gravel road with little traffic, but years later that changed.
The road was paved, traffic picked up, and Lumsden began to worry.
It was only a matter of time, he thought, before that kind of tragedy would happen on Beersheba Road.
It was also on the mind of his eldest child, Lisa Holloway, who had often heard her father say how afraid he was of the railroad crossing near his home.
Armed with the data, she approached MDOT and the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors.
In April, MDOT engineers agreed to do an assessment of the crossing.
MDOT recently informed the Lumsdens that they will soon be adding safety equipment at the crossing.
“We’re so grateful,” Holloway said. “The request for a warning light has been initiated, and the prospects look good but the process does takes a while. Our family is very pleased and excited.”
It was especially satisfying for Lumsden.
“You know, when Laura died, they put up safety devices at the New Hope Road crossing right away,” he says. “For a long time, it seemed like the only way to get that done was for somebody to get killed. It shouldn’t have to come to that. “