Police say a woman behind a Jeep Cherokee was likely speeding while driving down Taylor Street, then hit a concrete guardrail head on. The car flipped over that guardrail and fell onto the train tracks.
The driver survived and is expected to be OK. She crawled out of the vehicle and was conscious when police arrived on the scene, Oak Park Police Commander Clemet Harbour said. She was sitting on the tracks, which had shorted out. The woman was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood with non-life-threatening injuries, including injuries to her teeth.
There was no impact with any train, but the CTA shut down partial service in the area to clear the accident. No citations had been issued as of 11am Friday.
"It looked like it flew quite a distance because there's two sets of train tracks, and that's where the car fell," said witness Craig Kerr.
Oak Park police are investigating the cause of the crash to see if alcohol or if nasty weather was to blame. The conditions Friday were responsible for a crash in River Grove. Overnight, snow blanketed the area as far south as Kankakee, making the roads slick and hard to travel.
In June of 2009, there was a similar accident in the same area when a Dodge Charger flipped and flew off the roadway and landed on the tracks as well. That accident took place at 4 a.m. More than 30 people were on a train at the time. No one was seriously injured, and the driver was cited for improper lane usage.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
