A woman’s near-miss with a locomotive Tuesday night backed up traffic on nearby County Road 466 causing headaches for motorists.
Farah Karim Dhanani, 25, of Umatilla, was driving a 2012 Kia Rio at about 10 p.m. that got stuck on the tracks while she was attempting to cross County Road 105, just off U.S. 301 in Oxford, according to a report from the Florida Highway Patrol. She spotted a CSX locomotive coming at her and got out of the car which was directly in the path of the oncoming train.
The train hit the vehicle and knocked it off the tracks.
The gate arms were down and the lights were activated when Dhanani drove onto the tracks. She was ticketed on a charge of failure to obey a traffic control device, the FHP report noted.
The train did not derail and only sustained minimal damage.
Dhanani suffered minor injuries and was transported to Leesburg Regional Medical Center.
The train tracks parallel U.S. 301 and cross over County Road 466 not far from the Villages Charter School.