LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — A driver suffered minor injuries when a Brightline train struck a vehicle Thursday afternoon in Lake Worth Beach, a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said.
The crash occurred shortly before 3 p.m. at Washington Avenue and South Dixie Highway.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said the person, who was born in 1944, was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
She told WPTV the driver tried to beat a southbound train, with the gates down, and was able to drive a short distance and then called first responders.
The tracks are controlled by Florida East Coast Railway and include freight trains.
WPTV's Michael Buczyner reported that other trains were moving on the tracks at about 4 p.m. with the affected Brightline train no longer in the area.
The sheriff's office said the driver will be cited for failing to obey a railroad crossing device.
In the past 13 months, there have been three other incidents in Lake Worth Beach.
On Dec. 9, Layfun Moore Jr., 36, of Boynton Beach, was struck and killed by a Brightline train at a nearby location at 15th Avenue South and Railroad Avenue. As the train approached the intersection, Moore drove past stopped traffic and around the activated railroad warning arms, which were lowered with lights flashing and alarm bell sounding, PBSO said.
In August, a pedestrian walking east across the railroad tracks near 10th Avenue North and F Street was struck and killed by a Brightline train. That week it was the third time in a week that a person died in an accident with a Brightline train in Palm Beach County.
In February 2022, one person died after a Brightline train crashed into a vehicle a 17th Avenue North and F Street.