A 35-year-old Lansdowne, Delaware County woman was killed when her car slammed into a SEPTA trolley head-on at the corner of Frankford Avenue and Delaware Avenue in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia.
The view from SkyForce10 showed that the car had major front-end damage. It was lodged up under one end of the trolley.
"It sounded like an explosion," said Larry O'Brien who witnessed the crash.
"Unfortunately the driver was driving down Frankford Avenue and it's a closed-off street," O'Brien said. "She saw the trolley coming out and it seemed like she tried to go around the trolley but she actually went into the trolley at full speed."
O'Brien said he ran over to see if he could help the victim, but it was too late.
SEPTA spokesman Manuel McDonnell Smith said the trolley was going about 5 miles per hour and that the car was traveling at a "high rate of speed" when the crash occurred. O'Brien said it looked to him like the car was going 20 to 25 miles an hour.
The trolley operator and all six passengers were being checked out after complaints of back and shoulder pain.
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The Route 15 trolley will be shuttle busing between the Delaware Avenue loop and 26th and Girard Avenue. Regular trolley service is available between 26th and Girard and the West Philadelphia Terminus at 63rd and Girard, according to Smith.
