Video Of Terrifying Incident Goes Viral When Drawbridge Opens While Car Is Stil Crossing

A drawbridge opening up while vehicles are still crossing usually just happens in the movies. A South Florida drawbridge tender was reportedly fired after a video showed how she raised a bridge with a car still on it.

According to news reports, the driver drove immediately following the terrible occurrence. The driver’s scary incident was captured in a video that has now gone viral. Authorities quickly started an investigation regarding the incident.

As it turned out, this follows the death of a 79-year-old lady who fell to her death from a bridge in Palm Beach County in early February.

WPTV got video of the incident, which occurred in October 2021 after submitting a public records request to the Florida Department of Transportation. The video was filmed on October 21 at the Ocean Avenue Bridge in Lantana located in Palm Beach County.

In the video, a silver sedan can be seen approaching the bridge as the gate closes behind it. The first gate was just about to close when a Honda drove across the bridge and passed underneath it just in time. Then a bicycle is seen crossing the bridge at the same time as the car.

The drawbridge begins to lift the back of the vehicle as the car starts to rest on its front bumper a little over 30 seconds later in the video. As the automobile teeters dangerously on the brink of falling 40 feet into the sea below, the terrified driver opens his door and waves his arm in an apparent attempt to attract attention from anyone controlling the bridge.

At 45 degrees, the car begins to tilt so far that the driver prepares to leap out. As the vehicle is pushed forward by the bridge, the driver begins to second-guess his decision to jump. As a result, he gets back in the car and starts accelerating. When this doesn’t work, the driver accelerates and the back of the car slams into the gap between the fixed and moving sections of the bridge.

Even though this isn’t ideal, the driver was able to avoid being hit. As the bridge rises to its full height, the car is pushed forward by the force of gravity. Video shows the car slamming into the pavement, but with its back tires caught in a gap. The driver has then driven away from the bridge’s path.

The unidentified motorist then walked around his car while using his cellphone. He then got back in his car and sped away as soon as the bridge started to lower again.

By WPTV’s count, Palm Beach County has terminated the bridge tender about three weeks after the event for breaking its safety measures. It included visually examining the bridge spans. The vehicle was not visible to her until the drawbridge was closed, according to her testimony to the authorities.

It wasn’t until the drawbridge was closed that the bridge tender or operator alerted authorities to the vehicle’s presence. She was terminated, however, because she had violated company policies by performing visual inspections of the trusses.

Even though the Honda’s nose may have been damaged, the driver was able to get the vehicle back on the road. WPTV launched an investigation into the bridge’s safety after an earlier accident on a different bridge.