Elderly Woman Survives Train-Car Collision
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WLS-TV(CHICAGO) — A 78-year-old woman shown on video driving into the path of a train in a Chicago suburb is recovering in a hospital Wednesday.
Video from the Metra commuter train service shows Patricia Vitale in her Honda Accord driving into the path of an oncoming train in Itasca, Illinois, early Tuesday morning — though the crossing gates were down, lights were flashing and the train’s horn was blowing. The car can be seen trying to reverse, but failing to get out of the train’s path in time.
“Honestly, it can take nearly half a mile for a train at that speed to stop,” Metra spokeswoman Meg Reile said, adding that the train was traveling 40-50 mph.
Though Vitale’s car was totaled, Itasca Fire Sgt. John Matuga found her conscious and talking, Itasca Fire Chief James Burke told ABC News.
She was being treated for a broken vertebra, several broken ribs and a punctured lung in a hospital intensive care unit, ABC News station WLS in Chicago reported.
Jim Vitale was on the way to meet his mother, a retired schoolteacher, when he found out what happened.
“It’s amazing anybody could live through that. God was on her side,” he told WLS.
“She’s crossed those railroad tracks thousands of times over the years, so something doesn’t add up,” he added. “I can see some explanation that she slid a little bit, but it seems to make more sense that maybe she was bumped.”
Metra police were actively investigating, but could not immediately determine the cause of the crash, Reile said.
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