KEY POINTS:
An elderly man has had a lucky escape after he drove into the path of a train in New Plymouth yesterday.
The man was taken away in ambulance, shaken but apparently unhurt, Taranaki Daily News reported.
Despite flashing lights and warning bells the man drove his silver Suzuki Swift into the path of the one-carriage train about 2pm.
The car was badly damaged.
Sergeant Shane Hurliman, of New Plymouth, said the crossing's bells and signals were working at the time of the crash.
"The train also blew its horn from about 250m away but the elderly gentleman failed to stop," he said at the crash scene.
"If the signals are going then regardless of whether you can see a train or not, you need to stop.
"It's not just about the train's speed, but by sheer virtue of its mass that a car is going to come off second best."
The driver of the car was extremely lucky not to have been injured, Mr Hurliman said.
- NZPA
