One of the reasons some people give for choosing an SUV over a regular car is that they feel safer with all that extra metal around them. But hit an SUV with a train and there’s a good chance it’s still going to fold up like its a piece of tin foil.
That’s exactly what happened to the Mercedes GLC seen in a video that has been circulating on social media. It was struck by a moving train in Bilzen, Belgium, leaving the SUV driver with serious injuries. But what makes the story all the more tragic – and hugely frustrating – is that the woman driving the Mercedes had every chance to avoid the accident and did nothing to help herself.
The action took place on a road in Bilzen that is bisected by a train line. A utility company was working on the road and so put orange plastic barriers across the road so that cars knew not to pass even when the automatic level crossing barriers were raised.
Related: Watch The Terrifying Moment A Train Smashes Through A Stranded Bus In The Netherlands
But the plastic barriers were only across one side of the train line, and like a moth to a flame, the GLC driver drove across the tracks until she was stopped by the barriers on the other side. We see her on footage captured by a utility worker moving one of the barriers so she can drive forward. But having cleared the way ahead she seems unable to drive forward, probably because the transmission has automatically moved to neutral when she opened the door to speak to the worker. And by this time the automatic barriers have dropped and a bell has signaled that a train is arriving at platform GLC imminently.
Honestly, it’s like watching a horror film and wondering why the soon-to-be victim doesn’t just run back out of the basement and lock the door. You know what’s about to happen and there’s nothing you – or the utility worker, who is still filming – can do about it.
The GLC is only partially across the train line and the train isn’t going massively fast, but it still makes a real mess of the Merc, spinning it around through 360 degrees and into a pole. Local news reports from VRT and other sites say the clearly shaken woman was taken to hospital with ‘serious’ injuries but none of the 40 passengers onboard the train was hurt.