Brightline high-speed rail and law enforcement from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties are stepping up their efforts to prevent accidents like the ones South Florida has seen time after time at train tracks.
Accidents on the tracks can be prevented. That's the message during National Rail Safety Week during the first collaboration between the groups.
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"It’s beyond my understanding and I’m sure everyone else here as to why someone would take that chance with their life," said Col. Nichole Anderson from the Broward Sheriff's Office. "We’ve become a microwave society where we want things quick and what happens is impatience gets the best of people and they think that they can beat the train.”
Earlier this year, NBC 6 Investigators sorted through data and found Brightline trains had collided with cars or pedestrians 85 times since 2018, killing at least 27 people and injuring 30 others.
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Brightline said their commitment to the success of the business is the same as the commitment to keep people on and off the trains safe.
“Our Brightline teammates, many of who are former law enforcement, will be out in the field with our law enforcement partners handing out educational information," said Brightline President Patrick Goddard. "It’s about education. We'll also be pushing out safety information through social media and public service announcements. In addition to that, we continue to advance the number of engineering efforts throughout the corridor to make the corridor safer.”
Goddard said Brightline's safety protocol is above the national standard on safety.
