- A Subaru Outback’s hood flew open and slammed the windshield mid-drive.
- The driver navigated a Florida bridge through a tiny gap in the windshield.
- Stopping on the bridge may have made an already dangerous situation worse.
What would you do if you were driving and your car’s hood suddenly popped open? Instinct says hit the hazards and pull over immediately. That’s not what happened here. The driver of this Subaru Outback kept going.
Footage of this bizarre incident was recently shared on social media after being filmed in Tampa, Florida. It shows a man driving a red Subaru Outback with its hood slammed up against the windshield, almost completely blocking his view.
Read: Subaru Says Buyers Finally Pushed The Outback To Embrace Its SUV Side
The only way he can see through is by cranking his neck forward and looking into a small slit at the base of the windshield. Obviously, it’s very dangerous, but according to some users on Reddit, continuing to drive rather than pulling may have actually been the safer call in this instance.
Video Only In Florida @ Instagram, Reddit
Apparently, this clip was filmed on a bridge near Largo, Florida, and it doesn’t appear that there is any place on the bridge to pull over safely. As such, the driver may have avoided causing traffic carnage had he decided to immediately stop on the road.
“I have driven on this bridge what seems like a million times,” wrote a Reddit user. “You do not want to pull over on this bridge. We’ve all been taught that when the hood goes up, find a safe place to pull over. This bridge is not one of them. You cannot slow down either. This road is Mad Max-level driving.”
Of course, that only holds up if he pulled over as soon as it was safe to do so. If he didn’t, then it’s hard to defend any of it.
It’s hard to say exactly why the hood of the Outback flew up like this, but it could have been because the driver had previously failed to close it properly, or perhaps because the latch broke. Either way, the damage is unlikely to be minor. Beyond a potentially ruined hood, the hinges and latch may need replacement, and there is a strong chance the windshield sustained damage as well.
