Watch a car on the tracks as a Brightline train approaches. Then, the driver made a move
A Mini Cooper driver’s quick thinking saved him from being smashed by a Brightline/Virgin train near Wynwood.
A video recorded by Matt Rush, who lives near the area, shows the Mini Cooper stuck in the middle of the train tracks by Northeast 36th Street and Second Avenue, a few blocks away from the Miami Design District.
He thinks the Mini Cooper’s driver was distracted and didn’t realize the rail-crossing arms were going down.
“He looked like he thought he could make it,” Rush said. “It’s not like he hit the gas to go over it. ... He went over the tracks and then saw the crossrails coming down.”
Rush, who was in the passenger seat of his uncle’s car and waiting at the crossing, said he started recording when he noticed the car stayed on the tracks longer than it should have Monday night. But he doesn’t think the man “was trying to play chicken with the train.”
“I think he was trying to figure out if he was going to reverse out because he crossed over and did a weird maneuver to go backwards,” Rush said. “If he wasn’t in a small car, he probably wouldn’t have been able to do that.”
In the video, you can see the car back up and move in an almost circular motion as the driver looks for a way out as the crossing lights flashed. Then the Brightline train sounded its horn.
Shortly after, the driver finds an opening and slowly drives back on the street. He then makes a sharp turn, stopping mere inches from the crossing arm.
Seconds later, the Brightline train whizzes by.
“That took way too long,” a woman in the recording said. “What is he doing?”
The video, shared by @OnlyInDade on Instagram and Facebook, was posted late Tuesday and has left viewers stunned.
“OMG ... what did I just watch?” one woman wrote on Facebook.
Others who say they pass by the area frequently said it’s common to see drivers stay on the tracks despite the sign warning against the dangerous decision.
“That’s how accidents happen,” a man in the video said. “That’s exactly how it happens.”
The Florida-based high speed train, which has stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, has had a history of accidents involving cars, pedestrians and bicyclists since operations began in January 2018.
Earlier this month a woman died after her Mercedes SUV collided with a Brightline train at the intersection of West Dixie Highway and Ives Dairy Road near Aventura.
The number of Brightline-related deaths is also one of the reasons why Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has asked the Florida Department of Transportation to look into passenger-rail safety concerns along the Florida East Coast rail corridor.
Rush, who originally posted the video on Reddit, hopes the video reminds people to be more careful when they’re driving.
“It’s dangerous not only for the driver ... but it’s dangerous for the people on the train as well,” he said. “Don’t ever try to cross the tracks ... whether it’s the Brightline or another train, it’s the law. Don’t cross the tracks, and stay off your phone when you’re driving.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 10:29 AM.
