TOWSON, Md. — Towson University is now investigating after a viral video shows an Uber driver going over the Osler Drive pedestrian bridge, near Towsontown Boulevard.
It happened early Saturday morning, according to passenger Niya Birdine. She called an Uber while leaving a friend’s place.
She says the driver had picked her up close to the base of the bridge, but at first didn’t think anything of it.
Viral moment: Uber drives onto walking bridge
“It's like really bumpy, so I look up and I see that we're going across the bridge,” she recalls. “I was like, is the bridge gonna break? Like, is he gonna hit someone?”
Birdine took a short video, and shared to her friend group Tik Tok account @sidequesttu. It's since gone viral with more than 150,000 views and shared by other accounts online.
At some point, Birdine says her driver realized he was going the wrong way.
“He like looked up and he said, ‘wait, am I supposed to be on here?’” she said. At the time, she noticed people were on the bridge.
They had made it well across the bridge, when the driver did a U-turn and drove back. Birdine estimates he was going around 30 miles per hour.
“You could hear the GPS trying to reroute him and tell him like where to go, but he wasn't even listening to it,” she said.
Towson University spokesperson Jamie Abell says the campus police department has been investigating, which included reviewing security footage of the "reckless incident." Police have also connected with Birdine to get her personal account of the incident.
According to a statement, the bridge is engineered to support vehicles and did not sustain any damage.
The bridge, a part of Towson Way, was built as part of a safety-improvement project and completed in September 2014 according to university archives and WFT Engineering.
As of 2017, as seen in images on Google Street View, the West side entrance where Birdine was picked up had safety traffic bollards.
But on Tuesday, WMAR-2 News did not see any on site. A yellow warning sign was posted informing drivers that no cars, unless authorized, were allowed past that point.
Abell states they were temporarily down to accommodate snow removal.
Birdine just hopes it never happens again.
She reported the issue to Uber.
“I forgot to rate though, but it would probably be a one star after that,” she said.
WMAR-2 News reached out to Uber to see if the driver is facing any consequences, but have not heard back by deadline.
See full statement from Towson University Spokesperson Jamie Abell:
We are grateful that no one was injured and no property was damaged as a result of this reckless incident. Towson University’s Office of Public Safety has spoken with the student who was a passenger in the vehicle and is continuing to investigate. While we are still gathering information, we are confident the individual driving the vehicle was not a TU alum. The bridge remains safe for pedestrians.
The bridge is engineered to support vehicular weight and is routinely used by facilities and utility vehicles. However, it is not open to general vehicular traffic and is designated solely as a pedestrian bridge. There is no damage to the structure. The bollards are currently down to accommodate recent and anticipated winter weather–related clearing.
