Video shows moment Brightline train collided with car in North Miami Beach (Courtesy: Dock Doctors)
- Thread starter Arjun
- Start date
Somebody dropped the ball bigtime with the design or something is seriously wrong with the equipment.......you should NEVER maintain a green light headed toward a RR crossing as the crossing arms are falling and the RR signals are flashing.
As soon as the RR crossing gets the notification that the train is coming and generally BEFORE the arms start coming down and at THE SAME TIME as the RR lights begin flashng, the vehicular traffic signal controller should immediately go into "RR premption mode" and display a yellow then red going toward the RR tracks to keep traffic from trying to cross the tracks. There is also usually a far side set of signals NOT VISIBLE to approaching traffic that gives a green signal to cars on the tracks to clear them off the tracks.
I can't see such a setup right off but I'd say its a VERY poor design and an extreme liability to the party responsible for the design and maintenance of the traffic signals. It makes no difference if the driver of the car hit was negligent, it IS a bad design even if there was no traffic signal preemption circuitry malfunction.
EDITED 1/11 @ 1210 CDT: Added image of issue for clarity
As soon as the RR crossing gets the notification that the train is coming and generally BEFORE the arms start coming down and at THE SAME TIME as the RR lights begin flashng, the vehicular traffic signal controller should immediately go into "RR premption mode" and display a yellow then red going toward the RR tracks to keep traffic from trying to cross the tracks. There is also usually a far side set of signals NOT VISIBLE to approaching traffic that gives a green signal to cars on the tracks to clear them off the tracks.
I can't see such a setup right off but I'd say its a VERY poor design and an extreme liability to the party responsible for the design and maintenance of the traffic signals. It makes no difference if the driver of the car hit was negligent, it IS a bad design even if there was no traffic signal preemption circuitry malfunction.
EDITED 1/11 @ 1210 CDT: Added image of issue for clarity
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StevenFromTexas
Getting comfortable
I enjoy watching videos of vehicles getting destroyed by trains. Most of the YouTube videos show the sheer stupidity of some people when it comes to trains. The driver in the video came up short six beers in a six-pack when it comes to observational skills and got whatever he or she deserved.
Same here!
It's amazing the number of sagging lowboy trailers with a track hoe get caught on the RR tracks then smashed by trains; the drivers act like they are out of touch with their surrounding,s and have no situational awareness. Most of the drivers are very professional and aware and don't put themselves in that predicament and get destroyed but there are enough that seem to have their heads up their collective ass.
How hard is it, in broad frickin' daylight, not raining, to stop, park safely even if a couple of hundred feet away, go for a walk and LOOK at where you're going to turn and cross, eyeball it good and understand if you're gonna get high-centered on the @#$% RR tracks!
CaptainCrunch
Getting comfortable
I think the intersection might be worse than you described. I looked up the intersection on google maps to see if the truss going over the road would obstruct the traffic lights to the driver who was hit by the train. All I can speculate is that the truss blocked the view so they put another set of light on the truss right below the RR warning lights. The link to the view is under the image.
Street View of NE 165th Terrace & Biscayne Blvd · Google Maps
North Miami Beach, FL 33160
maps.app.goo.gl
Flintstone61
Known around here
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You could be right, one cannot accurately or fairly armchair QB sightlines, visbility, etc. from here.I think the intersection might be worse than you described. I looked up the intersection on google maps to see if the truss going over the road would obstruct the traffic lights to the driver who was hit by the train. All I can speculate is that the truss blocked the view so they put another set of light on the truss right below the RR warning lights. The link to the view is under the image.
View attachment 211909
Street View of NE 165th Terrace & Biscayne Blvd · Google Maps
North Miami Beach, FL 33160
Pretty sure though the driver is a dumbass in any event: in image 1 below you can see there are 6 lanes in the direction he was travelling, the 2 far left lanes are for left turn traffic.
Image #2 you can see the black car is in that aforementioned far left lane, lane #1, and proceeds STRAIGHT without slowing down a bit, and going right through the down red & white crossing gate.
Short of some sort of medical issue with the driver at that moment, I'll lay odds the driver was distracted by an in-vehicle event, most likely TEXTING.
While surfing YT, I ran across another dumbass getting hit by a Brightline train, as in the OP. The video begins at :45, skipping others before it. The driver of the Mini is one stupid, but lucky, idiot.
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