MAITLAND, Fla. – State transportation officials on Thursday released video of a SunRail train crashing into a car in Maitland, with a woman getting out of the way in the nick of time.
[RAW VIDEO: 1st view | 2nd view | Conductor | Local 6 catches drivers on track]
The Florida Department of Transportation released video of the crash, which happened Monday on Packwood Avenue at Maitland Avenue.
Kristen Taylor, the 28-year-old woman who was forced to make a last-second leap from her car after it stalled on the tracks just before the train hit it, told Local 6 that she was terrified
Taylor said she couldn't get her Infiniti started after it stalled on the tracks on the first day of the SunRail's pay service.
Taylor said if warning horns blew, she didn't hear them, but she added that her music was loud.
As the crossing arms lowered with her car on the tracks, Taylor said she fumbled with the clutch and the push-button start as the train quickly approached.
She then left the car just before the train crashed into it and was struck by debris from the train crashing into the car.
Taylor's car, which she purchased a short time before the crash, was totaled. She said her first car payment was due Monday.
Taylor says she was not trying to beat the train, adding that she didn't even know it was coming.
Later, Local 6 spotted several drivers disobeying the law at several intersections along the SunRail route. One driver went around the crossing arms after they came down.
Another driver was so close that the crossing arm came down on his vehicle. When the driver backed up, the arm was stuck between the windshield and the antenna.
Two other drivers pulled up too far and got stuck between the arms, but were far enough from the tracks that the train didn't hit them.
FDOT says it is trying to educate people about driver safety at train crossings. Olson said if the equipment is malfunctioning an alert goes out and conductors are instructed to do it.
SunRail, the first fixed-rail mass transit system in Central Florida, makes 12 stops during its 31.5-mile route, starting in DeBary and ending at Sand Lake Road in Orlando. In between, stops are in Sanford, Lake Mary, Longwood, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, Winter Park and Orlando, which has four stations.