Cyclist falls 60ft from a Florida drawbridge

A female cyclist fell 60ft from the Royal Park Bridge in Florida when it started to rise as she was crossing

A cyclist fell almost 60ft to her death from a bridge in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, February 7. The unnamed woman was reportedly trying to make her way across a drawbridge, but before she could reach the other side, it started to rise up.
According to the Daily Mail, officials at the Royal Park Bridge told how a man, obviously sensing the danger, tried to help the woman as she fell through the gap. Sadly, he eventually lost his grip on her, and she fell five stories onto the concrete base below.
The incident occurred at around 1pm local time. Apparently, the victim had been pushing her bicycle from Palm Beach, in the direction of West Palm Beach. As she got within about 10ft of the safety barrier which prevent traffic from crossing, the bridge started lifting and she fell into the opening.
Mike Jachles, a spokesman for West Palm Beach police, said, “The woman tried to hang on. There was a bystander nearby who tried to help her, but tragically she fell five or six stories below, where she died landing on concrete”.
An investigation will reportedly be carried out to determine why the tender in charge of operating the drawbridge over the Intercostal Waterway did so while a pedestrian was present on the 1,238 feet long bridge.
Before the bridge is ever opened, a series of bells and whistles are sounded to forewarn drivers and pedestrians. After the incident, the bridge was closed off for around six hours.
Speaking with WPTV, Juan Orellana, a bike safety expert, said, “Palm Beach is accessible only through three bridges, and this is the main bridge, so it´s very used by cyclists. For one thing, you will hear the bell before the arms go down, so when you hear the bell, you gotta get out of the way before the bridge goes up”, as reported by metro.co.uk.

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