USA: A Time line of Brightline Fatalities

[Mawkie]

I read this rather disturbing article from Miami New Times and wondered how this length of track compares to other rail infrastructure. A lot of the deaths seem to have been preventable eg with double road barriers.

Dubbed the deadliest train per mile in America by the Associated Press, Brightline has killed dozens of people across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties in the years since its 2017 debut. New Times logged more than 50 pedestrian and motorist deaths caused by collisions with the company's trains since January 2022. A majority of those fatal incidents involved pedestrians, some of whom police say committed suicide.

 

[deltic]

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, there were 247 fatalities at Highway-Railroad grade crossing in 2023. US seems to have a very lax view of all things highway based, it has the highest highway fatality rate, per head of population, in the developed world by a large margin.

 

[whoosh]

US seems to have a very lax view of all things highway based, it has the highest highway fatality rate, per head of population, in the developed world by a large margin.

Quite. I'm utterly astounded that articulated lorry trailers in the States don't seem to have to be fitted with underslung side guarding to prevent cars/cyclists/pedestrians from going underneath a trailer and being crushed by the wheels. Unlike trucks in the UK.

 

[Harpers Tate]

I have seen a couple of genuine videos of car/train collisions in Melbourne Fl, and in both cases to put it bluntly, the car drivers were behaving like utter morons. How far should a railway go, to protects idiots from themselves? Of course, it's in the railway's own interest to do so - damage and/or delay to the service is going to be a consequence.

Here is one of the incidents, in which the car involved had driven around another vehicle that was properly waiting for the train to clear:

and the other in which the car totally ignores crossing warnings

(skip to ~1:25)

 

[eldomtom2]

The safety culture in the US is very different from the UK - there isn't the same culture of looking at things beyond the immediate cause. Even worker fatalities are often written off by the NTSB (RAIB equivalent) as "didn't follow the rules, case closed".

 

[StephenHunter]

Quite. I'm utterly astounded that articulated lorry trailers in the States don't seem to have to be fitted with underslung side guarding to prevent cars/cyclists/pedestrians from going underneath a trailer and being crushed by the wheels. Unlike trucks in the UK.

They're mandatory on the rear; a result of the death of Jayne Mansfield. Not on the sides though.

 

[riceuten]

Most of the car fatalities seem to be where a driver has ignored the level crossing warnings and driven onto the track

 

[Gloster]

I know virtually nothing about US railroads, but I wonder if the general attitude to level, sorry, grade-crossings is at least partly affected by the way the lines run through the centre of towns. Slow moving trains that can stop and so divide one side of town from another has created an attitude that it is quite OK to dodge in front of them in order to carry out your daily life. There may also be a feeling that the railway is just an outsider to people’s thoughts: the car is king. In Europe any town with a railway is likely to see it is an integral part of life…and the barriers aren’t down for so long. And Brightline looks as though it runs a fair bit faster than most US lines.

 

[185]

Perhaps if the federal offence of 'causing an obstruction on a grade crossing and endangering life' carried a 10 year sentence, this may reduce. 'Oh my truck broke down', 'oh I was in a rush' etc - make it a federal crime and those lazy, ignorant road users might think twice as they start driving onto the crossing.

I'm of the view that the USA needs to start lowering lines en-masse and start building bridges over higher speed lines. Where grade crossings must remain, a full redesign is needed to take away any doubt that they shouldn't stop there and high quality cameras to capture evidence.

 

[Harpers Tate]

Not Brightline, but a local commuter service in Orlando. These tracks have been there "forever" and used by freight and Amtrak. Trains are now more frequent with the introduction of SunRail services. Again, each of these videos shows clearly where the fault lkies. In all cases, barriers and/or lights and bells were working correctly. A handful of recordings taken by cameras onboard the trains:

 

[StephenHunter]

Perhaps if the federal offence of 'causing an obstruction on a grade crossing and endangering life' carried a 10 year sentence, this may reduce. 'Oh my truck broke down', 'oh I was in a rush' etc - make it a federal crime and those lazy, ignorant road users might think twice as they start driving onto the crossing.

I'm of the view that the USA needs to start lowering lines en-masse and start building bridges over higher speed lines. Where grade crossings must remain, a full redesign is needed to take away any doubt that they shouldn't stop there and high quality cameras to capture evidence.

Is it not already a state crime?

 

[nwales58]

For comparison, and small numbers are very variable year to year, over the past 5 years ORR data shows 10-20 fatalities per year in Great Britain. Divide 130 million train km or so by that and we have one per 4 to 8 million miles.

The linked Associated Press article has
Brightline: 1 per 29,000 miles
Tri-rail nearby: 1 per 110,000 miles
Florida East Coast freight: 1 per 160,000 miles

Their non-passenger deaths are very roughly FIFTY times higher than GB (much of western europe will be similar) and Brightline about 4 times worse than that even. Their road fatality rate, although worse than ours, is nothing like that bad.

Have I miscalculated somewhere?

 

[Harpers Tate]

Statistics. Here is a thought: If a fatal collision occurs between a car and a bus or truck (or other car, even) it counts as a road death - right? If a fatal collision occurs between a road vehicle and a rail vehicle, seemingly it counts as a rail death. Those statistics may read very differently if the most direct cause of such an accident is the ROAD user (as it clearly is in all the video cases I have linked) and if those were then counted as road deaths.

 

[185]

Is it not already a state crime?

It is. But it seems the average punishment currently seems to range from a parking ticket to several weeks in a holiday camp.

Perhaps if the FRA brought the prosecution, far higher minimum tariffs could be imposed, deterring this behaviour.

In addition, the good ol' American Railroad tradition of 90% of a driving job blowing the horn 10% actually driving the train has to stop. Horn should only be used when absolutely necessary - people switch off when it's used all the time.

 

[AlterEgo]

Most of the car fatalities seem to be where a driver has ignored the level crossing warnings and driven onto the track

Quite a few of them are where a driver has made a 90 or 180 degree turn to be entering the crossing. It’s very suboptimal design.

 

[MarkyT]

I know virtually nothing about US railroads, but I wonder if the general attitude to level, sorry, grade-crossings is at least partly affected by the way the lines run through the centre of towns. Slow moving trains that can stop and so divide one side of town from another has created an attitude that it is quite OK to dodge in front of them in order to carry out your daily life. There may also be a feeling that the railway is just an outsider to people’s thoughts: the car is king. In Europe any town with a railway is likely to see it is an integral part of life…and the barriers aren’t down for so long. And Brightline looks as though it runs a fair bit faster than most US lines.

Like UK freight only branches, some minor lines in the US have very low traffic levels with only occasional movements. People can become accustomed to there never being a train about when they cross. Then one day there is a train... Brightline isn't like that. It's more frequent and faster than many railroads. Before Brightline arrived, FEC already handled significant port container traffic in Miami. The Brightline project doubled the entire FEC mainline into the city, significantly improving passenger and freight capacity. The irony is that short fast Brightline trains are through a crossing and clear quickly, unlike slow long freights people may be more used to. I think authorities should start a long term grade separation and secure fencing project, with better protections added to any crossings that remain. At some sites they've already installed 4 boom full barriers in place of two half barriers, but the warning time in USA can be very short, rather like our AHBCs and that short warning applies even at complex layouts with multiple tracks, road junctions nearby, etc where a UK AHBC would never be permitted and a supervised full barrier solution with CCTV or OD equipment would be used. The terrain in that part of Florida is very flat, low-lying and close to water so trench solutions for either road or rail could be difficult.

Quite a few of them are where a driver has made a 90 or 180 degree turn to be entering the crossing. It’s very suboptimal design.

There's not always any link between the controls for the crossing and traffic signals at such T junctions near the railway, so a big multi signal traffic gantry just the other side of the crossing can be showing green to approaching traffic while barriers are still shut immediately in front of it, and another light phase can clear turning traffic towards the crossing even when closed. There's a new US pedestrian crosswalk signal, known as HAWK, being used in some places. It employs a flashing red 'wig-wag' signal, but inexplicably means 'proceed if clear' in that application. That's fundamentally different to the same signal's meaning at RR crossings. I wonder if it might cause confusion in the minds of some drivers.

 

[alf]

The 1.03 sec collision video at post 10 above is from a camera in the cab which shows the driver at his desk & the track view ahead in one single very effective shot.

I have never seen a video which shows the train driver’s reaction.
He reacted fast. But there was nothing he could do.

We should have similarly located cameras in our train cabs..not for
Information but for accident investigation.
The Salisbury 158 collision investigation & others, Southall HST stone train collision possibly, might have been enhanced with a similar back view of the driver & the controls, also the Croydon tram crash.
Perhaps the cab view videos should be kept private to the investigators if embarrassing to the driver. ie having a physical need.

 

[Beebman]

A video report from CBS Miami of a serious collision yesterday (Saturday) morning between a Brightline train and a fire truck in Delray Beach:

Fortunately nobody was killed but 15 people were injured including 3 on the fire truck which had gone around one of the barriers after a freight train had passed in the opposite direction, as can be seen at the start of the report which uses forward-facing video released by Brightline (it stops just before the moment of impact). The report includes pictures of the severely damaged front of the train as well as the wrecked fire truck and some footage of passengers inside the train following the collision. There's also some eyewitness accounts.

 

[RT4038]

I'm of the view that the USA needs to start lowering lines en-masse and start building bridges over higher speed lines. Where grade crossings must remain, a full redesign is needed to take away any doubt that they shouldn't stop there and high quality cameras to capture evidence.

It would be much easier, and less expensive, to simply stop running these high speed passenger trains. After all, the country has by and large got by without them over the last 50 years or so.

 

[43096]

It would be much easier, and less expensive, to simply stop running these high speed passenger trains. After all, the country has by and large got by without them over the last 50 years or so.

And that would be easier than attempting to educate the dumb idiots (including, it would seem, assorted fire and police departments) that still don’t understand how to use grade crossings safely.

 

[185]

It would be much easier, and less expensive, to simply stop running these high speed passenger trains. After all, the country has by and large got by without them over the last 50 years or so.

Parts of America are gridlocked, and effective public transportation is necessary. That said, it should be built properly - I wouldn't say it was high speed at the point of that collision above, but emergency or not, the driver of that fire truck belongs in jail with a minimum of 10 years for almost causing a mass casualty event.

But like I said, the grade crossings have to go.

 

[RT4038]

Parts of America are gridlocked, and effective public transportation is necessary. That said, it should be built properly -

But like I said, the grade crossings have to go.

The cost of which will probably doom any project.....

 

[riceuten]

It would be much easier, and less expensive, to simply stop running these high speed passenger trains. After all, the country has by and large got by without them over the last 50 years or so.

Better stop flying planes then, in case they crash

 

[158756]

The cost of which will probably doom any project.....

There are over 300 crossings on the Brightline route, to give an idea of the scale of the problem. And even if the money were available, grade separation would be difficult with most of the line running through urban areas and close to the sea.

They could take some steps to reduce the number of crossings though. The crossing where this latest crash happened is in a run of 5 crossings in about half a mile. I don't see why those 5 couldn't be reduced to 1. And if it were in the UK it would surely be a full barrier crossing, so the fire truck wouldn't be able to just drive around the barriers.

 

[renegademaster]

Seems to be l

 

[Towers]

Firefighters dodging level crossing barriers really does illustrate a frightening attitude to rail safety. Yikes.

 

[Falcon1200]

Firefighters dodging level crossing barriers really does illustrate a frightening attitude to rail safety.

The decision to drive round lowered barriers is incredible! Do US grade crossings (on less-frequently encountered double or more lines) have signs similar to those in the UK saying 'Second train coming if lights continue to flash'?

 

[RT4038]

Better stop flying planes then, in case they crash

That is not quite the same. Planes are 'controlled' by Air Traffic Control, pilots are disciplined and rarely bump into each other. The American railroads have very large numbers of level crossings, with a varying degree of safety and (in the case of Brightline as a High Speed railway) a far greater average of collisions between trains and other road vehicles. The crossings could be made safer / eliminated, but this would cost a huge amount of money and probably destroy the business case of the high speed passenger rail service.

There are over 300 crossings on the Brightline route, to give an idea of the scale of the problem. And even if the money were available, grade separation would be difficult with most of the line running through urban areas and close to the sea.

They could take some steps to reduce the number of crossings though. The crossing where this latest crash happened is in a run of 5 crossings in about half a mile. I don't see why those 5 couldn't be reduced to 1.

They could, but this would be at Brightline's expense and also at the expense of public opinion towards Brightline (for causing widespread inconvenience), such that it would kill Brightline I suspect.

 

[DDB]

A key thing to remember when judging people's decisions is just how long trains are in the US and hence how long they take to clear a crossing. It has to be experienced to be believed.

 

[Towers]

A key thing to remember when judging people's decisions is just how long trains are in the US and hence how long they take to clear a crossing. It has to be experienced to be believed.

But not Brightline commuter trains, presumably!