Funny, it doesn't block me , but anyway......basically an SUV parked itself on the tracks with Brightline bearing down and crossing gates down. The SUV got hit at high speed, enough that it rolled and damaged a nearby traffic light.
CLIFF NOTES
Witnesses told police the SUV was on tracks and the gates were down when the train struck, said Ted White, a spokesperson for Delray Beach Police. The car was facing west toward Lindell Boulevard, and the impact turned the car over and damaged the traffic light at the intersection of Lindell Boulevard, shutting the road down overnight Wednesday.
Keith Holloway, an NTSB spokesperson, said the highway division will investigate what happened and any safety issues potentially involved. Investigators were en route Thursday, and a preliminary report will be issued in the coming weeks.
None of the deaths involving Brightline have been found to be the railroad’s fault. Most have been suicides, pedestrians who tried to run across the tracks ahead of a train or drivers who maneuvered around crossing gates rather than wait.
Brightline averaged about one death for every 32,000 miles its trains travel, the highest rate among the nation’s more than 800 railroads, according to an ongoing Associated Press analysis that began in 2019. Among railroads that travel at least 100,000 miles per year, the next worst rate belongs to SunRail in Central Florida, with one death per every 117,000 miles.
District 4 Palm Beach County Commissioner Marci Woodward urged people in a Facebook post Thursday morning to be cautious at crossings after Wednesday night’s crash.
“Trains can’t stop quickly, and most need a mile or more to come to a complete stop,” Woodward wrote. “These fast-moving Brightline trains travel about 80 miles per hour and are closer and faster than perceived!”
