Wairarapa freight train strikes car

DAMAGED: The elderly driver of this car was lucky not to have been injured when his car was struck by a logging train at a crossing in Featherston yesterday. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

An elderly driver is lucky to be alive or not seriously injured after a logging train smashed into his car in Featherston.

The crash happened at the rail crossing on Fox St just before 3pm yesterday when the driver of the car overtook a school bus waiting for the warning signals to stop.

The man was uninjured in the crash but his 2007 Toyota Opa was left with a broken rear window and extensively damaged on the left, rear panel and boot area.

Featherston School deputy principal Caroline Wilkins was in the bus bringing back a group of pupils from Featherston pool.

They were waiting on the west side of the tracks when the man overtook them to cross the line.

"This car came straight down Fox St, and we were on a bit of an angle, he came around us.

"I could see our driver, stand up, looking worried."

The "hit" happened so suddenly most of the bus passengers didn't notice.

"Then people came running across, out of the fire station."

She said the driver got out of the car and did not look badly hurt.

"The back of the car had been hit, the window was smashed."

She said their children were "very well behaved" but quite excited.

"We had just been talking to them about stopping at crossings.

"We had just said, it would be breaking the law - and the next minute, someone had gone across.

"It was the perfect lesson for the kids."

Martinborough constable Jaco Pieterse said the elderly man was extremely shaken and very lucky he wasn't injured.

He confirmed the driver had overtaken a vehicle waiting to cross.

"The train has just clipped the side of the car ... he's a bit shaken and shocked."

He said in the five years he had worked in the region he hadn't heard of any accidents at the site of yesterday's crash before but not stopping for flashing warning signals at railway crossings was becoming a major concern.

"People take chances. It's such a dangerous thing to do."

No further information was available.