Terrifying footage released by the Brightline train service in Florida show the moment a motorist attempted to cut in front of a train but ended up getting hit by the massive locomotive.
The incident happened on February 16 and the video shows the driver of a 1999 Honda Civic maneuvering around a vehicle waiting at the level crossing and swerving around a safety gate in a bid to avoid having to wait. However, the train ends up slamming into the side of the Civic, ripping the car in two.
The Miami Herald reports that 55-year-old Luis Paez was driving the Civic at the time. When authorities arrived on the scene, they had to use the jaws of life to extract him from the car. He was then transferred to St Mary’s Medical Center with serious injuries.
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“This behavior is incredibly dangerous, irresponsible and tragic for the surrounding community, Brightline teammates who are operating the train, the first responders who come to the scene and is devastating for the families of the trespassers,” Brightline said in a statement.
Shockingly, this was the fourth accident involving a motorist/pedestrian and a Brightline train in four days that week. On the morning of February 15, a mother got her vehicle stuck on the trucks and ended up abandoning it on the crossing just before it was hit by a train. On Tuesday evening, a pedestrian was killed after being hit by a Brightline train and on February 13, a man was killed when his Ford Fusion was hit by a train on the high-speed line.
The Federal Railroad Administration has taken notice of the accidents and summoned the operators of the Brightline, Tri-Rail, AmTrak, and CSX services to a meeting to discuss what communities and others are doing to deter trespassers on tracks and motorists at crossings, the Sun Sentinel reports.