Watch As A Drawbridge Is Accidentally Raised With A Car Still On It

Drawbridges are amazing feats of engineering, but you wouldn’t want to get stuck on one while it’s going up, would you? It’s a nightmare scenario that does happen from time to time. Last October, for instance, we watched as a Nissan Note rolled off a rising bridge in Belgium. It wasn’t clear if the driver had blown through a red light.

It turns out that something very similar happened just days before, 4500 miles away in Florida. A Honda Accord driver entered the Ocean Avenue Bridge in Latanta on 21 October, just as the gate closed behind them. Presented with a closed gate on the other side too, they stopped just before the other end of the bridge met the road, presumably out of either confusion or panic.

The bridge then rose, lifting all four wheels of the Honda off the ground. The driver tried to get out of the car, although it likely would have been an even more dangerous situation had they successfully exited. As the car thankfully remained upright and suffered relatively minimal damage, it was able to be driven away once back on the ground.

The bridge tender was fired for failing to spot the bridge wasn’t clear, although when contacted by WPTV, she claimed her view was obstructed.

The footage was uncovered by the news channel via a freedom of information request made in the wake Carol Wright’s death. The 79-year-old fell to her death earlier this month while walking her bike across the Royal Park Bridge between West Palm Beach and Palm Beach as it started to rise. An investigation into the tragic incident is ongoing.