A female driver in Croatia left onlookers dumbfounded after she leapt several metres across a raised bridge in her car, seemingly after missing a red light.

The movable part of the bridge in the seaside town of Tisno was elevated at 2.5m (8ft) when the yellow Peugeot zipped up it and landed on the other side, the local news provider Sibenikin reports.

The 58-year-old woman, who has not been named, passed through a red light that had just come on, according to bridge warden Tome Mejic Sidic. "I was shouting and gesturing her to stop but it was no use," he said. "She ignored me, went full throttle and flew across the bridge. I was convinced she'd overturn the car." The "jump" was captured on CCTV.

Another witness calculated the woman's speed at about 80km/h (50mph). "It sounded like a bomb had gone off," he said of the moment the car landed on the other side. "There was a terrible noise and all the airbags were opened by the force of the crash."

The driver and the passenger came to a stop right outside a cafe on the other side, fortunately unharmed. The woman reportedly later told police that she'd been blinded by the sun and hadn't seen the red light.

This isn’t the first time drivers have taken a chance on the bridge in Tisno. Tome Sidic said a tractor tried to make the jump once but didn’t have enough speed to build momentum.