FLAGLER, Fla. (CNN) – You’ve seen video of drivers attempting to beat trains, but the camera on the Flagler Bridge in Florida caught a driver jumping a bridge as it’s going up.
As the Flagler Bridge is going up, an SUV plows through the bridge arms and jumps the bridge as it is rising.
According to police, the driver may not have been looking at the road.
“It was a distracted driver incident and the individual was coming back towards west palm and didn’t see the bridge arms coming down, it was suspected the guy was messing with his GPS,” said Officer Philip Salm, Palm Beach Police Department.
Police say 29-year-old James Montano may have been using a GPS while driving, and he’s lucky it didn’t cost him his life.
“Stay focused. You have a 2000-pound vehicle you’re in charge of. The implications of what could have happened, had he hit at a different time or he hit the ramp and went over the side. You’re talking about a potentially fatal accident,” Salm said.
Fortunately for Montano, his timing was impeccable.
‘You see the arms go down and then you see the vehicle just come in and he’s hitting it just at the moment that it’s starting to go up,” Salm said.
The bridge was closed for about five hours Saturday as crews worked to repair the traffic arm Montano plowed through.
Montano and his passenger were treated for minor injuries on scene.
