LAKE WORTH, Fla. (WSVN) – Video has been released showing a Brightline train crashing into a car on the train tracks in Lake Worth.
Brightline released the new video capturing the moment when a car collided with a train in Lake Worth, Wednesday morning.
The impact destroyed the car and left it in pieces. That driver was rushed to the hospital.
According to officials, the safety gates remained in the down position after a freight train passed by, but a Brightline train was also coming, so the gates stayed down.
“The gates were down, the warning lights were flashing, the bells were ringing,” said Brightline’s Senior Vice President Ben Porritt.
That’s when the driver went around a stopped car and the safety gates, then drove into the oncoming train’s path. Porritt said this crash could’ve been prevented.
“An individual made a dangerous choice to drive around the gates and put their life at risk,” said Porritt.
This latest crash is one of many in just a matter of days.
A pedestrian was killed by a Brightline train in Hallandale Beach Tuesday night, in the area of Southwest Third Street and South Dixie Highway.
A mother’s car was struck on the tracks in Delray Beach Tuesday morning after she tried to drive over them but got stuck. Luckily, she and her baby were not in the car when the impact happened.
One person died when their car was hit by a train, also in Lake Worth, Sunday.
With an uptick in these dangerous accidents, Brightline said they’re hoping to use this as a learning lesson for drivers.
“What needs to happen is education and proper behavior around railroad tracks,” said Porritt. “The railroad is safe. It is behavior that we need to continue to educate and change around these railroad tracks.”
They’re urging everyone to follow the law and be on the alert.
“We’ve all heard this saying, and I would repeat it again,” said Porritt. “A few seconds is not worth putting your life at risk.”
The condition of the person involved in Wednesday’s crash is unknown.
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