A Cook County teen is happy to be alive after being involved in a serious train accident on Thursday. The Southtown Star reports that the 18-year-old was driving her moms car on Chicagos East Side when she decided to go around closed train gates at 115th Street and Marshfield Avenue.
The girl looked to her left and saw a freight train several blocks away. She decided to go around the closed gates because she as in a hurry and thought the gates were about to go back up. She wanted to return her moms car quickly so her mother could go grocery shopping.
Unfortunately, the teens car was hit by a Metra train coming from the right as she pulled onto the tracks.
“I dont think it was luck or chance, but I feel like God was with me, the girl said to the Chicago Sun-Times. The crazy thing was I didn’t hear a horn or anything. My body in the car got rattled around a lot. It all happened so fast.”
The girl managed to escape the crash with minor cuts and bruises. She was charged with reckless driving, failing to stop for the train, driving on the wrong side of the highway, and lack of insurance. The girl claims that she is insured but that her papers were lost in the damaged car.
In a statement to reporters, the girl says that she feels horrible for causing the accident and possibly endangering train passengers.
“It wasn’t just jeopardizing my life, it was jeopardizing the hundreds of people on the train,” the teen said.