Driver in shock

Car Stuck on the Tracks: “Witnesses Just Stood There Watching”

The wrecked car quickly began to smoke; it had previously come to rest on the tracks.(Bild: zVg)

In plain sight, in mortal danger—yet help didn’t arrive for several minutes: A 19-year-old female driver from Tyrol describes how she hydroplaned near Ehrwald (Reutte district), climbed out of her smoking car—and then, in shock, lay down on the tracks! Witnesses just stood by...

First off: Nicole Sprenger is doing well despite bruises and a mild concussion. But she shudders to think of what could have happened on Wednesday around 9 a.m. Above all, her experience is a plea to witnesses not to look away...

“The steering wheel was ripped out of my hands”
The young woman was driving on the B187 from Ehrwald to Garmisch in the rain. “I was going about 80 km/h—I certainly wasn’t driving recklessly,” recalls the 19-year-old. Nevertheless, she suddenly found herself hydroplaning—“the steering wheel was literally ripped out of my hands.” With great difficulty, she avoided a head-on collision with a VW van; then her car spun twice and came to a stop—of all places—on the train tracks!

Smoke from the engine compartment, but the driver’s door was jammed
A nightmare: Smoke was billowing from the engine compartment, and there was a distinct smell of burning. “So I wanted to get out quickly, but the driver’s door was jammed!” She finally managed to get out through the passenger door—“but in shock, I ended up lying on the tracks!” A Dutch tourist car stopped, but the two or three passengers just stared motionlessly at the woman lying on the tracks. Trains run here at least every 30 minutes.

No one expects a witness to perform a heroic act, but just standing by and watching isn’t enough.

Unfallopfer Nicole Sprenger

In the end, an urgent appeal
First, a German paramedic administered first aid; then (thanks to the automatic emergency call from Sprenger’s cell phone) the police and an ambulance arrived. At first, treatment from the local doctor seemed sufficient. “But once I got home, I couldn’t move my upper body anymore, so my mom called an ambulance again.” Her frustration over the damaged car has since given way to gratitude for having survived this horrific experience with only minor injuries.

The 19-year-old wants to use her account to warn others about hydroplaning and ask witnesses to accidents not to stand idly by when faced with a helpless accident victim.