GPS Tells Woman To Drive on Train Tracks, Train Destroys Car

Photo via MBTA Transit PD

A mother and her two kids were able to escape death after their car ended up on the MBTA tracks in Belmont, and was crushed by an oncoming train.

According to Transit Police, around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18, police responded to the Brighton Street railroad crossing after reports of a vehicle that was hit by a Commuter Rail train.

Police said the vehicle, which sustained “substantial damage,” was driven by a Belmont resident whose GPS device directed her to take a right turn onto the tracks. After driving the vehicle onto the train’s right-of-way, the car got stuck, according to police, as the woman attempted several times to get out of the area. Once the driver realized the car could not be moved, she got out of the vehicle with her two children and stood in a safe place, police said.

Shortly after she got out of harm’s way, a Commuter Rail train plowed into the vehicle, destroying it. The car’s driver and her children were not injured in the accident. Police did not release the driver’s name, and did not indicate how old her kids are. There were roughly 70 people on board the train at the time of the accident, and the passengers and the train’s driver were unharmed, according to reports.

Buses were dispatched to the scene to bring commuters to their destination as police investigated at the scene of the collision. Waltham Auto and Tow removed the vehicle from the tracks.