Brightline, the privately operated passenger train in Florida, had five accidents that killed three people last week.
- On February 13, a man was killed when he drove his car around the lowered crossing gates and was hit by a train in Lake Worth Beach.
- On February 15, a pedestrian was killed when he was struck by a Brightline train in Hallandale Beach.
Brightline posted this video taken from the train that struck a car last week to prove that the accident wasn’t its fault. What it shows is that a freight train had gone through the crossing and an impatient motorist drove around the gates unable to see that a passenger train was coming because his view was blocked by the freight. The accident would have been prevented if Brightline had installed full-width crossing gates instead of gates that covered only half the width of the street.
- Also on February 15, a woman and her baby narrowly avoided injury when a Brightline train struck her car in Delray Beach.
- On February 16, a man suffered “incapacitating injuries” when a Brightline train struck his car, also in Lake Worth Beach.
- On February 19, a man walking on the tracks was killed when he was hit by a Brightline train in Delray Beach.
