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A Los Angeles County sheriff's dispatcher talked a Sunland woman through stopping her runaway Ford Escort by phone on Oct. 17, 2011, after the car's accelerator stuck while her 5-year-old daughter sat in the back seat, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The woman, 40, called 911 shortly after 1:30 p.m. as the Escort rolled down Foothill Boulevard in La Canada Flintridge at roughly 20 to 25 mph, authorities said. She told the dispatcher her speedometer had quit and that she was approaching a red light. "My speedometer isn't working ... and I'm coming to a red light," she said on the recording.

The call was answered by Richard Engersbach, a dispatcher at the department's Crescenta Valley station who had worked the desk for about five years, according to NBC Los Angeles. "Can you try putting the car into neutral and turning off the ignition," he told her.

The woman followed the instructions, shifting into neutral, switching off the ignition and turning on her hazard lights, the department said. The engine died and the Escort coasted to a stop in the middle of Foothill Boulevard near Oakwood Avenue before it reached the intersection.

The recorded call ran 2 minutes and 14 seconds. Neither the woman nor her daughter was hurt, authorities said. The driver chose not to be identified publicly.

"She did really good," Engersbach said afterward, according to ABC News. "She did what I asked her to do and prevented her vehicle from running another red light."

Engersbach said staying calm is part of the job. "There's always a sense of nervousness depending on the type of call," he said. "It's our job to stay calm and try and get the people on the other end of the phone to remain calm so that we can give them the help that they need."