An Ontario mother and her two children are safe after their car drove onto the train tracks at the Aurora, Ont. GO Transit station.
According to witnesses, the female motorist became stuck after turning her car onto the tracks on Thursday night.
Andy Jenicek was parked nearby and told CTV Toronto he heard people screaming.
“It persisted. It sounded like panic, so I opened my window and tried to listen,” he told CTV Toronto.
“That’s when I saw a lady running toward the train, waving her arms, hoping for it to stop,” he said, adding that’s when he noticed the stuck car.
Other bystanders and commuters saw the commotion too and ran to help.
The group of good Samaritans then helped push the vehicle off the tracks as the mother turned the steering wheel.
An oncoming GO train was able to stop well before colliding with the car.
“If there wasn’t a stop scheduled at that time, that train could’ve been a service train, it would’ve kept on going and who knows what could’ve happened to that vehicle and those kids,” said Jenicek, who shot video of the rescue.
After seeing Jenicek’s footage, Metrolinx spokesperson Matt Llewellyn told CTV Toronto there were safer ways to act when a car gets stuck.
He said if that happens, he urged passengers get out of their vehicle and find the emergency phone in the station. The line is connected to the transit agency’s dispatch who can notify any nearby trains and give them enough time to stop.
Because without any warnings, a train might not have been able to stop in time and led to a “tragic ending,” Llewellyn said.
He recommended people stay 100 metres away from the track, otherwise people put themselves at “unnecessary risk.”
But Jenicek said the rescue spoke to the goodness in the Aurora community where he’s lived for over 20 years.
“A few heave hos and a lot of high fives... It really felt like, you’re in Canada, eh?” he said. “Everybody just comes together in times of need and that’s who we are.”
With photos from Andy Jenicek and files from CTV Toronto
