Brightline Train

Last Friday Night, a Brightline train struck a pedestrian as he tried to cross the tracks in Fort Lauderdale.

Intersection Where Pedestrian was Struck

The train only clipped the man and he was treated at Broward Medical and released.

I caught a train at this intersection about a week later. It wasn't going very fast; no faster than trains on the Long Island Railroad; maybe 40 MPH. It's pretty close to the station at this point.

Bright Train

Brightline trains hit 3 pedestrians in 1 week.

I have an idea. How about slowing down as the trains approach crossings for a while until the word gets around that these trains are really fast? Yes, I get it will increase the transit time, but people's live matter more.

Previously

Last week, the Fort Lauderdale Bright Line train began service out of the new Fort Lauderdale Station. Unbelievably, 2 people have been killed in the past week, both in Boynton Beach. One of the fatalities occurred during a VIP run from Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach.

Bright Line West Palm Beach Station

Previously 2 people had been killed by Bright Line trains, one in Boca and the other in Deerfield Beach.

Bright LIne blames this on "Trespassing"; the fatalities are largely a matter of pedestrians misjudging the speed of the train. For decades only very slow freight trains have been on these rails; the bright line trains can travel up to 125Mph.

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Brightline lost $28M in the 3rd quarter; they'd expected to make $20M the first year but instead they're bleeding cash. Surprise, Surprise, a passenger railroad system is losing money.

I have an issue with everyone saying Brightline struck a pedestrian. Brightline is on rails, it doesn't turn left or right. A train car is only about 10 feet wide a distance covered in about 3 seconds assuming you are walking across the tracks not walking on them. The limited speed for Brightline is 79mphs. No different then trying to cross one lane on I-95 (my guess is you'd run if doing that). Trespassing yes, but do like your mom told you look left and right and don't cross if you see big yellow train!

If a car hit a pedestrian, that's what would be reported. So there's no teeth to your issue. It's an accurate description of the event.

They don't allow cars to go 80MPH where there are likely to be pedestrians for a reason. Can you grasp why the speed limit in residential areas is 30mph? People are simply not used to judging something going so fast. Even on I-95 if a car in your rear view mirror is going 80 instead of 65 you might misjudge it when changing lanes.

If the speed limit on US1 was 80mph I promise you there would be multiple pedestrians hit. That's the point.

They have gates that come down and ring well before the train comes. The train blows its' horn when it comes to a crossing. If you obey the gates, there is no "judging 80 mph". Judgement on an 80mph train only comes into play if you ignored the gates.

There are crosswalks and signals for pedestrians on roads also, but many people cross in other places and ignore the signals. Are you one of those idiots who wait for the little green guy to come on even when there's no traffic? Safety procedures have to account for people that don't follow the rules also.

I hope you're not in charge of anything important. Nobody is saying it's not the fault of the people who get hit or claiming that it's the train company's fault. What it should be is a public debate. Stupid people don't follow the rules, and in society, you have to account for stupid people. People WILL cross the tracks when the gates are down.

Another Pedestrian killed last night; this one in Fort Lauderdale at E Sunrise.

So someone suggested to me that you could take the train to Marlins Park now so you don't have to deal with the parking. During the week, the last train from Miami is 9:10PM. No chance of catching that. On weekends the last train is 11:10. So what if your Uber or Cab gets caught in a traffic jam and you miss the last train?

What's there to do in West Palm? The station is near City Place, where there's a City Celler (essentially Big City Tavern), A cheesecake Factory, a Brio and a Mellow Mushroom. Sounds a lot like downtown Fort Lauderdale!

The nerve of them to not take accountability. If such a fast frieght train is new, they should have planned to have crossing guards at crossing areas, for the first few months to a year in order to prevent misjudgement from both sides. Stop compromising safety for revenue.

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