- A woman drove a quarter-mile on Seattle light rail tracks following GPS directions
- The incident occurred near Mount Baker Station, disrupting the 1 Line light rail service
- Transit authorities halted service for two hours to remove the vehicle safely from tracks
While Google Maps has been a lifesaver for billions across the planet, following it blindly can have bizarre consequences. A driver in Seattle proved this recently by mistakenly turning onto light rail tracks after following her GPS instructions. The lone woman in her Mazda CX-5 with Utah plates managed to drive a quarter-mile down the line before finally coming to a halt on the elevated tracks at Mount Baker Station.
The incident took place on Tuesday (Jun 2) evening, around 6:20 pm local time, leaving passengers on the platform perplexed. Multiple video clips widely circulating on social media show the SUV struggling to move along the rail tracks.
The incident also forced the local transit authorities to shut down the city's 1 Line light rail service for two hours as the car was removed from the tracks.
Emergency crews first cut off power to the tracks before removing the offending vehicle. Sound Transit (ST), a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area, posted a video highlighting how the car was ultimately removed from the track.
"A car on elevated train tracks isn't something our crews see every day. When it happened, train service was paused so teams could safely remove the vehicle and ensure everything was ready for trains to return to service," Sound Transit captioned the video.
Though officials are still figuring out how the woman entered the trackway, a report in the Seattle Times highlighted that the woman may have entered where the tracks are "at-grade and on the same level as the roadway at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Walden Street, about a half-mile south of the station".
As per Sergeant Patrick Michaud of the Seattle Police Department, the driver was a 70-year-old woman. During the interview, she didn't appear to be impaired but "took extended periods of time to answer questions and was very confused". Michaud did not confirm if she was arrested or cited for her actions.
Check The Viral Clip Here:
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'GTA 6 Out?'
After the video went viral, amused social media users joked that, regardless of GPS, basic geographical common sense is still a must.
"Damn, GTA 6 is already out?" joked one user, while another added: "This reminds me when people would drive off into the harbour when I lived in Hawaii because they were following GPS."
A third commented: "The fact that she actually waited till she got to the station to exit like she was actually a train is taking me out. Lmao."
A fourth said: "You know, GPS or not, at some point your instincts have to kick in and say, 'this probably does not look right.'"
