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Posted on 07/15/2025 3:48:01 PM PDT by Morgana
Florida's beloved Brightline has been dubbed America's deadliest train after it was revealed to have revealed killed someone on average every 13 days.
In total, a staggering 182 people have died and 99 were injured on the tracks since 2018, leading to furious finger-pointing and calls for further safety measures around the notoriously deadly rail line.
Another 101 collisions into vehicles mercifully ended without causalities, according to an investigation by the Miami Herald and WLRN.
The high-speed trainlines first victim, 18-year-old Maddie Brunelle, died eight years ago after being struck by a Brightline train. Her mother, Amy Brunelle, continues to fret over the tracks that line Florida.
'What scares me is how much open track there is,' Brunelle told the Herald. 'And how close it is to public areas.'
Her daughter, who was bipolar and in a manic state, had walked out of a treatment facility and headed toward the tracks.
Still, the area of track where the teenager had died remains unfenced.
Brightline's dangerous reputation has spurred controversy for years, and as the first few deaths occurred in 2018 the company faced backlash for 'victim blaming.'
In Brightline's first week of service, 51-year-old Jeffrey King had been struck and killed on a bicycle in Boynton Beach, making him the fourth death at the hands of the train line at the time.
US Rep. Brian Mast called the company out for it's public comments that people such as King had not payed attention to the safety warnings at crossings.
'Stop victim blaming and take responsibility for the fact that your trains are killing people,' Mast tweeted at the time. 'Trains should stop running until massive safety flaws are resolved.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
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I don't blame the train company either.
Do people not realize the trains have the right of way on their rails at all times day and night?
Are you kids not taught train safety in schools? You know between their LGBT and sex ed studies? ha ha ha ha ha
Do they not teach train safety in drivers ed anymore?
Are people really this retarded and getting a Darwin award every two weeks?
I’m gonna side with the train company.
They make it sound like the trains are getting off the tracks and hunting people down.
I lived in Palm Beach County for about a dozen years, and this issue had become conspicuous before I left in 2024. I would suggest that an attempt be made to parse out the suicides. Not saying the problem goes away entirely, but it wouldn’t be so shocking after those are removed. After you take out the suicides, then cross-tabulate by age of driver, previous driving record, and level of intoxicants. I’m sure some marginal improvements can be made, but until you have lived there and seen the problem of people driving around barriers, you really won’t understand.
how difficult is it to stop and to carefully look both ways before crossing a railroad track, whether in a car, on a bike, or walking? ... is this a nationwide problem or only in florida?
According to most media reports, SUVs do the same thing!
Rampage through crowds, careen down sidewalks, run red lights….
Well, they do run red lights. I see it every time I go into town.
Ironically my wife and I watched a couple of train v/s vehicles on youtube last night.
Videos were worldwide.....they all looked to me like stupidity on the part of the impatient vehicle operators.
I found this video of Brightline Train Crash Compilations. The majority are cars/people who crossed the closed crossing gate. Some are of cars stalled or trucks stuck on the tracks. One was on the tracks in the middle of nowhere so how he got there I have no clue.
It’s amazing to watch because even up against an 18 wheeler a train wins every time. A train’s only equal is another train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kPxJnPQsBU
With double tracks in rural areas you need to wait until the train on your side clears until you can see far enough down the track on the opposite side. If there are lights, sometimes people think the lights are slow but it is just a train running the opposite way.
How many passengers or rail employees have died?
I would guess zero.
This was a problem with the railroad operation in Gallup, New Mexico (probably still is). Drunks crossing the tracks and sometimes passing out right on the tracks.
I’m gonna have to drive down there and see this for myself. I feel strangely attracted to things like this.
The rest are the same people who cut off 18-wheelers in heavy traffic.
Not much that can be done. Maybe teach Newton's Laws of Motion?
Trains, like the large 18 wheeler trucks, cannot stop on a dime. WHEREVER we are, in town, on a day trip, or driving cross country, I am VERY careful about any kinds of rail tracks. In the city, it can be called “light rail.” If there is a guard gate that comes down, when it lifts to let us pass, I look both ways TWICE. If we are out in the boonies with no gates, I am even more careful. If some idiot behind us starts honking for us to go faster, I just pull over and let the fool pass.
+1
This article reminds me of an accident between a van full of teens and a Long Island Railroad train back about ‘78. The driver decided to race the train to the intersection , which was gated and had flashing red lights and clanging bells. He and the ten or fifteen others lost. That van spewed bodies for a hundred yards or some damn thing. To hear the media tell it for weeks afterward the fault was with the LIRR . They pounded away on that note until people were sick of it.
If you can’t stay out of the way of a train I don’t know who or what can help you.
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