This goofball made a hare-brained decision and drove through lowered railroad crossing arms, risking getting t-boned by an approaching freight train.
Portage County area driver and Redditor /u/Skyflyer8 shared headshaking dashcam footage from earlier in June (June 10-ish, 2026) to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit showing a goofball driver taking a huge risk by driving through the lowered railroad crossing arms at the Park St railroad crossing while a train was fast approaching.
Check out the near miss below with the original Reddit thread linked here.
The incident happened at the Park St. railroad crossing just beside Dave’s Body Shop (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As the dashcam shows, OP is stopped, pointed north at the Park St. railroad crossing.
The crossing arms with flashing lights are lowered, indicating a train is fast approaching.
And, with a clear view of either side, we can see and hear said train.
However, with a diagonal gap between the crossing arms on both sides, a driver in a Mercury Milan can be seen risking it, driving through the gap, a move he’s likely done several times.
This crossing has been in the news and Stevens Point city council meetings as of late, as the City Council plans to close it due to a poor layout and history of crashes (case in point)
“This is the sort of thing you’ll probably get away with most of the time,” the top comment from /u/post_rex reads.
“But then there’ll be that one time when you misjudge the distance, and it ends catastrophically.”
“There are two tracks, and there could have been a faster train coming on the second track. Even still, they only beat the train by five seconds; a lot of things could have happened to their car while making this move that could have ended with them getting hit. All to save 1 minute waiting on a short train…,” /u/KentRead pointed out.
As measured on Google Maps using the footage, the train was 200 feet from the car at the time of the car’s crossing.
In Portage County, WI, driving around lowered railroad crossing arms can bring a forfeiture that may reach roughly $600–$2,000, plus additional surcharges. Wisconsin also uses a demerit system, and this type of violation can put your license at risk if points accumulate or if the court imposes a suspension. (legalclarity.org)
