Flipping miracle: unhurt after smashing into train, flipping car 6 times
Published: August 3, 2006
POLICE are amazed a Colac woman survived after her car flipped six times when it slammed into a train in Birregurra yesterday morning.
The 21-year-old limped away with a sore knee after the collision with a Warrnambool-bound V/Line passenger train at a level crossing.
The force of the collision ripped the Subaru sedan’s engine out and scattered wreckage 60 metres along the railway line after the car skidded more than 30 metres and collided with the rear of the engine.
The accident happened as the woman was driving west on Aireys Reserve Rd, about 2.5kms from Birregurra, at 10.40am.
The crossing has a stop sign and warning signs about 50 metres before it.
Senior Constable Matt Anstee of Corangamite TMU said he had expected the worst.
“As soon as you get a call like this your heart goes into your mouth because you generally know it’s going to be bad,” Sen-Constable Anstee said.
“It’s just sheer good luck. You can’t put anything else down to it. It should have been a lot worse.”
Speaking as he looked for the woman’s wallet in a nearby drain, Sen-Const Anstee said a “good Samaritan” had driven the woman to Colac Hospital to have her knee examined.
He said investigations into the crash were continuing.
The train was carrying about 40 passengers but none was injured. Many appeared shaken as they boarded a coach about noon to take them through to their destinations.
Sergeant Shane Howard of Corangamite TMU said the woman’s car skidded about 32 metres and it was amazing she escaped relatively unscathed.
“For someone to walk out of something like this is one of those remarkable things,” Sgt Howard said.
V/Line locomotive driver supervisor John Mitchell said the train’s crew had taken all precautions.
“The crew had blown the whistle and had the lights on when they went through the crossing,” Mr Mitchell said.
He said the woman’s car had cleared a two-metre high sign.
Mr Mitchell said the two train drivers were shaken and that counselling would be provided.
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