The incident occurred around 11 a.m. when the older male driver said his foot slipped off the brake pedal and hit the accelerator instead, causing his Volvo to plow through the railing and hang over the pit.

“I’m perfectly okay ñ better than the car,” said the driver who wished to remain unnamed.

Three or four transfer station employees were in the office near the pit when the accident occurred.

“I was doing my paperwork and looked up and there was the car, right over the railing,” said one employee.

The transfer station employees as well as a member of the town’s highway department, who was unloading trash, helped remove the driver from the car, with some of the men sitting on the bumper of the vehicle to prevent it from going into the pit.

The driver went into the office to stay warm from Wednesday’s bitter cold and call for a ride, but his spirits were good following the accident.

Police and fire officials quickly responded to the transfer station and had to call a tow truck to free the vehicle from the railing.  Cars were prohibited from pulling into the area around the trash pit, causing a minor traffic jam of vehicles as people carried their trash to the area instead.

On Thursday, Department of Public Works Director Tom Daley said his department had been planning to replace the metal railings and that the accident has expedited that process.

“We’ve bought some jersey barriers that we’ll put up with some metal sheeting so that trash can just slide down [into the pit],” said Daley.  “There are two [barriers there now] and we’ll be putting up the new ones which will definitely prevent this kind of accident in the future.”