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On the not so bright side [notice the pun only afterwards...] they have a very high death rate. American pedestrians and drivers obviously have not learned yet

On the not so bright side [notice the pun only afterwards...] they have a very high death rate. American pedestrians and drivers obviously have not learned yet that trains can be fast. Source: https://spiegel.de https://spiegel.de a couple of days ago

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
evilkorn 3y ago
Nearly every week in Palm Beach County there's a story in the news about subscribe getting hit, either in person or in car. The day of the first Miami to Orlando train someone was hit by a train.
CPLX 3y ago
I mean in their defense the most important input into these numbers is the relative idiocy and sobriety of Florida residents.
- em-bee 3y ago
  Florida Man...
dougmwne 3y ago
Not sure why downvoted. You are right. Nearly 100 people have been killed by this train since 2019. This is an incredibly dangerous transportation mode for the number of passengers it handles.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  > None of Brightline's deaths were caused by crew error or faulty equipment, but were all related to suicides or pedestrians and drivers trying to cross and beat the trains, according to law enforcement and federal reports. The article says all grade crossings have barriers, so the video showing a collision shows the car driving around the lowered barriers. However, with the size and weight of American vehicles, I'm surprised they didn't use full-barrier crossings — there's the potential to derail a train. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightline#Deaths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightline#Deaths
  - usr1106 3y ago
    Full barriers create additional risks. You need to make sure that no car (and any passengers) have been caught between the closed barriers. Which adds costs. I'd say most European high speed lines are completely free of level crossings. (Europe has a lot of variation, so I might miss some exception.) Which is even more expensive.
    - Symbiote 3y ago
      It certainly adds costs, but it can be automatic or remote systems (e.g. cameras monitored by the signaller, or RADAR/LIDAR systems). However, I don't have an idea whether there are 10s or 100s of crossings. There are lines at roughly this speed in Europe with level crossings, e.g. the UK (125mph), Finland (85mph), Norway (100mph), Sweden (125mph), but there's not much detail on the speeds allowed for various types of crossing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossings_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossings_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossings_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossings_in_the_United_...

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

evilkorn 3y ago

Nearly every week in Palm Beach County there's a story in the news about subscribe getting hit, either in person or in car. The day of the first Miami to Orlando train someone was hit by a train.

CPLX 3y ago

I mean in their defense the most important input into these numbers is the relative idiocy and sobriety of Florida residents.

em-bee 3y ago
Florida Man...

dougmwne 3y ago

Not sure why downvoted. You are right. Nearly 100 people have been killed by this train since 2019. This is an incredibly dangerous transportation mode for the number of passengers it handles.

Symbiote 3y ago
> None of Brightline's deaths were caused by crew error or faulty equipment, but were all related to suicides or pedestrians and drivers trying to cross and beat the trains, according to law enforcement and federal reports. The article says all grade crossings have barriers, so the video showing a collision shows the car driving around the lowered barriers. However, with the size and weight of American vehicles, I'm surprised they didn't use full-barrier crossings — there's the potential to derail a train. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightline#Deaths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightline#Deaths
- usr1106 3y ago
  Full barriers create additional risks. You need to make sure that no car (and any passengers) have been caught between the closed barriers. Which adds costs. I'd say most European high speed lines are completely free of level crossings. (Europe has a lot of variation, so I might miss some exception.) Which is even more expensive.
  - Symbiote 3y ago
    It certainly adds costs, but it can be automatic or remote systems (e.g. cameras monitored by the signaller, or RADAR/LIDAR systems). However, I don't have an idea whether there are 10s or 100s of crossings. There are lines at roughly this speed in Europe with level crossings, e.g. the UK (125mph), Finland (85mph), Norway (100mph), Sweden (125mph), but there's not much detail on the speeds allowed for various types of crossing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossings_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossings_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossings_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossings_in_the_United_...