A 61 year old South Lebanon woman escaped injury Saturday afternoon when her car was struck by an eastbound Norfolk Southern freight train at the Lincoln Avenue railroad crossing in Lebanon.
According to a police officer at the scene, the southbound driver was last in a line of cars going around the lowered crossing gates to beat the train. She stopped at the last second, and the train clipped the front of her car, causing moderate damage.
A Lebanon Police Department news release additionally stated that a train traveling in the opposite direction had just cleared the crossing when the cars started going around the lowered gates.
The train that struck the car was going 38 miles per hour at impact. It took eight blocks to come to a halt at the 8th Avenue crossing.
Crosstown traffic was blocked for over two hours, throughout the city and to the west past 16th Street, except for at the 9th and 10th Street overpasses.
The LPD news release says that the driver will be cited for unspecified vehicle code violations.
After talking to police, the driver removed belongings from her damaged car, then walked away from the scene with a companion.
The car was able to be driven onto a flatbed tow truck.
Lebanon Police, Lebanon Fire Police, First Aid & Safety Patrol, and firefighters from the Good Will and Rescue Companies responded to the scene.
UPDATE: This article was updated on Tuesday morning, Dec. 15, to include details in the Lebanon Police Department news release.
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