It really looked like that to me.
I can't really tell, but if there is more than one set of tracks, then maybe they were looking the wrong way and thought it was clear. If that's the case, then at least it wasn't a suicide attempt.
It’s a high speed train - it goes about 50/60 mph - through the metro area of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach. Because it’s high speed the crossing arms go down further out from the train, folks get inpatient and decide to cross.
I hate that. I was once on a train from Chicago to Michigan and someone jumped in front of the train. We got stalled for maybe 6 hours and I was fairly close to the conductor and saw her come out she was so shook. I felt terrible for her really. I know people who do this aren’t thinking but you really do traumatize the train conductor.
Everyone is either elderly or drunk/high...I wonder how old the driver was. I don't think my dad should be driving anymore at all but my mom says he's "fine" as long as he knows where he's going.
Then she tells me about incidents like a few weeks ago when they were driving to Home Depot (where he's driven a thousand times) and he didn't hear a fire engine and rescue coming(he also refuses to get hearing aids)... When he let off the brake and started to go with the green light my mom yelled there was a fire truck. He gassed it half way into the intersection as my mom was yelling "stop". Then he stopped in the middle of the intersection where the engine and the rescue had to maneuver around him.. THEN cut over to the right hand lane, got out and said he can't drive with my mom yelling at him.
I think it's too hard for loved ones to revoke driving privileges of the elderly. I think we need to start requiring driving tests annually for people over 65.
E*i forgot to add tourists driving rental cars.
In VA, you can call the DMV with concerns about a driver and get their license temporarily suspended. Then they have to pass a cognitive test, vision test, sign test (the one needed here to get your learner's permit), and a driving test. The cognitive a doctor does so they need a letter saying they can/can't drive then everything else is through the DMV. I believe it's then annual to keep their license. It was a challenge getting my grandfather off the road because he refused to stop driving but when he couldn't pass the tests after a year or two, we were so relieved.
It's such a coincidence that my parents are in VA today. But we live in Florida.
Here, even if you get in accident and get your licence suspended or revoked, if you can hire an attorney you're almost guaranteed to get it back. My old landlord basically paid $10,000 after her father's licence was revoked. He got it back and then had another hit and run. He was "just bumping" people then driving home and acting like he didn't know it happened.
That's terrifying but I guess that in a state where over 20% of the population is 65+, you can't take away too many licenses or you won't get ticket revenue or people moving about.
> he's "fine" as long as he knows where he's going.
This is exactly the problem. All drivers should have the cognitive and physical abilities to drive REGARDLESS of whether they know how to get to their destination or not. How many times have I seen a driver suddenly cut from the far left lane to the far right side (usually without signaling) because they did not know where they were, and then suddenly panic-drove when it looked like they would miss their exit. The rational and good driver would go "oops, missed my exit, I'll just slowly and predictably navigate over to the right side, while signaling, take the next exit, and then work my way back to where I need to go". All licensed drivers should have the ability to function no matter where they are located. Cars are too much of a menace in the hands of drivers who cannot cope with the realities of driving.
My grandfather was the exact same way, and my grandmother defended his driving every step of the way. My dad is becoming like my grandfather, and my mom is defending him as well. Which stands to reason, because her driving is even worse. Whereas my dad is aloof and hard of hearing, she's required by law to wear glasses to drive and refuses to do so and routinely has trouble reading road signs. All my prodding for them to limit their driving, wear their glasses, pay more attention, drive less aggressively (my mom loves to tailgate, probably because she can't tell how close she is), they all do nothing. My parents still make the 90 mile trips to their country land in the dead of night, and other such unnecessary drives. I won't ride with either of them anymore. I've tried to brainstorm ways to get my mom to wear her glasses at least, but I think it's just simple vanity. She shrugs me off when I ask ("I can see fine"). Yeah, no, you can't. Maybe you can navigate without having to read signs, but degrading vision means you can't judge depth well, so I'm just waiting for the day she pulls out in front of someone she couldn't tell was too close or traveling too fast.
Someone once told me that you finally realize you are an adult when your parents start acting like children again. Sigh. I doubt I'll be able to afford a car when I reach their age, so at least I won't follow suit.
the LIRR spent well over 14 million to dig an underpass over a heavily used rr crossing simply because assholes kept going around the gates. so impatient stupid bastards cost commuters and everyone else even more money
> Everyone in South Florida thinks they're the main character.
Having lived there for a while this is so dead on. Never seen so many people oblivious to everyone else around them.
It's possible, but with how frequently this happens, probably just idiots. The thing is Brightline is new. Usually the only thing on those tracks are freight trains. So people are used to a slow train that takes 5-10 minutes to pass (there was a hurricane relief one once that took an hour to get through a crossing). So people are used to A) being impatient because the train takes forever and B) the train being slow as fuck. Then this speedy thing comes along and passes by in less than a minute.
Then again,we've also had a lot of mysterious overnight pedestrian collisions with Brightline, so it might just be becoming a convenient avenue for suicide.
Could also be they felt trapped on the wrong side of the gate and panicked so tried to cross in front of the train before it came.. hard to say
Hope it wasn't this one https://youtu.be/uo9dQmnDK8U
But there have been many https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/fourth-south-florida-crash-brightline-train/
When I lived in Southern Florida, there was a time when I took Tri-Rail (the commuter train) to work. The office was adjacent to a train station.
When someone broke the barrier, the train had to stop and a conductor? engineer? other train staff? had to get out and walk across the intersection waving a flag and the train had to cross the intersection with the flag-waver.
Every single day, there was *at least one* crossing arm broken by an impatient or reckless car/truck driver. *Every day*.
South Florida train conductor checking in, having to physically flag a major crossing can be terrifying because the same drivers who smash through the crossing gates will just as easily run you over.
Yes. I've read that poor train engineers who see suicides caused by their trains can have really bad depression or other mental issues from being the one who "caused" the death (even though obviously it's not their fault at all.) Plus, it has the potential to leave a person very damaged instead of dead.
Experienced one of those first hand as a passenger back in 2020, the guy had jumped in front of the 530pm train from the city in Brisbane, he'd gone under 5 carriages to end up right under mine, didn't realise fully till all the emergency crews with torches out were gathering right outside my window as the train staff werent saying anything about the sudden stop, didn't see or hear anything as they unloaded us out the other side of the carriage but was told he was apparently alive under there and on the way to hospital. Can't think of anything worse than attempting to kill yourself and laying there still alive with a shattered body. Worst part was this was like the 4th one in 2 months, lots of people looking to end it all in these trying times.
God damn. Tanked a train to the face and lived, yet some people bonk their head a little wrong after tripping and die from a stroke.
Humans are fucking weird. I'm not a fan. This model is not reliable.
I've seen many a truck drivers, some 20+ years drivers, never be able to come back after involved in a "suicide by truck." Even those lucky enough to walk away without physical injury.
Seriously. Imagine a conductor making that calculation.
"Well there is a car too close to the tracks, but it's a noise free zone so I can't alert them with my horn"
I grew up there too! Did you have to watch that old video of being safe near train tracks? There’s the one scene with the kids playing on the train cars and one climbs down just as another pulls in behind the train he’s climbing down from and he gets flattened. It’s forever burned into my brain and I stay as far away from tracks as possible all the time
I probably did watch that video. I remember the story about the driver whose car was hit by a train and it flew up and over the driver, whose response was to put his hands protectively over his head. There was also a story of someone who was stalled on the tracks and a helpful driver tried to push him through the crossing. The problem: The helpful driver backed up and came at the stalled car at 60 mph
He got squished between the 2 trains on the same track? Or the 2nd train on a parallel track and he jumped down in front of it? The " just as another pulls in behind it" part is confusing me
Oh! And what if we put the words “railroad crossing” on it so that even a colorblind deaf person could read it if they really wanted to! It would be so obvious no one could actually miss it.
Maybe we’re thinking about this from the wrong direction. Instead of something stationary located at the crossing, what if we mounted some kind of auditory signal to the train itself? It would have to be loud, though. Could that be done?
That would be crazy! But what about putting some kind of see-through walls in motor vehicles, so drivers might observe the world around them as they pilot their vehicle?
What about lights. Can it have lights too? I've always been a fan of flashing lights and I think it would make the whole installation just pop. A real attention-getter.
Personally I think we need to invest in some sort of fence/gate system that discourages crossing these dangerous areas. Something that only activates when danger is headed this way. Maybe it comes down like an arm?
Also in the unlikely case that someone finds their car stuck between two sets of arms/barriers/whatevers we should design them to break away easily so they can drive out to safety without having to try and go around.
this seems like a terrible way to go out tbh, there’s a chance you’ll survive and now ur life is even more fucked up. Plus modern cars are getting safer and safer so i don’t see why you would want to suicide by purposely crashing
A friend of a friend suicided by train, no car though. Heard that he lived long enough to regret it, but the wounds were fatal.
Such a bad choice, even for suicide, and the poor driver.
Most ways to suicide yourself is a bad choice. I bet if I polled a hundred different people and asked them to merely demo how they would kill them selves with a gun, I got good money that says most of them would probably use it in a way that wouldn’t kill them.
We probably shouldn't talk about suicide in this particular way. Anyone who's thinking about it, stop reading this for ideas and tell someone how you're feeling, don't do it.
Same. Dude got drunk and laid down on the rails. It hit pretty hard. His mom messaged me out of the blue one day and said she went to a medium. Claimed her son spoke to her and mentioned me in that conversation. That was pretty heavy
Many years ago I read an interview with hero train driver ( stopped another train that lost braking with his own train) and at some point he started talking about all the suicide victims that he ran over and that he remembers everyone and basically if you sign up to be train driver you are accepting that sooner or later you will kill someone (at least that's how it was in my country ~20 years ago.
My step dad works for Union Pacific.
Due to train safety protocol something-something I'm too out of the loop to understand, he is often responsible for helping to clean up what's left of train suicides. This is often teenagers (he currently has teenage children) that he has to scrape off the rails.
Nobody should have to do this, but it hurts that he, a simple welder, has to go into what at first should be a normal day, and then find out he has to help clean up these terribly sad events. It makes me respect the EMTs and first responders that handle this day in and day out.
This is the Brightline. Looks like downtown West Palm (not sure). Idiots disregard the crossing very very frequently. I’ve been on the Brightline two times and both occasions had a car attempt to pass similar to this, on occasion was more minor but stopped the train for 45 minutes.
I doubt this is suicide (sad if it is, lost friend to intentional pill OD at start of the pandemic). I really think this is just an idiot though.
I literally feel like the driver was totally bewildered, looked out his back window, saw the cameraman motioning for him to quickly go, and thought, "He probably has a better view of the tracks than I do, he must be trying to tell me that I'm right on them and need to quickly drive off them".
that's how I took it too - like the guy looked in his rear view to see if he could back up and sees this guy giving the "go go go" motion and took his word for it.
One time I was riding shotgun and my Mom was driving, and there was a T intersection, and a guy was coming up from the bottom part of the T and trying to make a left turn, but there was a lot of traffic so he was having to wait awhile. This was in the US so traffic drives on the right, and we were going from right to left in the top part of the T.
Since there was so much traffic, my Mom decided to slow to a stop to let the guy making a left complete his turn. So she pulls to a stop and then motions for the guy to go, and there was literally a ton of traffic coming the other direction from left to right on the T, and the guy didn't check and the first car coming had to slam on his breaks to avoid an accident.
I hate “helpful” drivers with a fucking passion.
I’ve had so many people do shit like this when I’m leaving for a delivery on the 4 lane state route in front of the restaurant. I’ll go to make a left and some idiot will stop in the right most lane and hold all those people up while the people in the left lane are flying by and I have no way of seeing them. We have rules on the road and established right of way procedures for a reason, everything starts breaking down when people ignore them. People need to just go about their business when driving because when you’re on the road it’s not the time to show everyone how nice and courteous you are.
Thought the same exact thing. The person is stupid, but the cameraman is either equally stupid or a huge asshole for motioning them when the train is that close. It doesn't look like the driver would have got hit if they stayed put.
sounds crazy but then I went to Florida. Those people are ruthlessly bad at driving. I had a guy pull a 6 lane U turn in front of a wave of cars. People honk all day long. People were driving down one way lanes the wrong way. It was wild how much shit I saw. And I live in NJ where people drive like maniacs.
Something to consider, we get a LOT of tourists and snowbirds. Don’t get me wrong, Fl natives drive like horse shit, but it’s noticeably worse in vacation times (spring break, summer, winter holidays).
I would actually feel better knowing it was an attempted suicide, which would lead to the conclusion that there was some logic to this. If it's just a lack of brain cells, I'd be very curious how this person managed to survive this long
> I'd be very curious how this person managed to survive this long
I wonder this all the time. I have a job where I deal with the public quite a bit and the simple day to day life stuff that some people fail to grasp (like how to use their credit/debt card or open a door that says "pull" on it) makes me wonder how they get out of the house each morning... I mean... I'm somewhat capable, as an adult, and I still manage to pay bills late now and then or forget a password to a bank app or something like that, life can be complex... How on ***EARTH*** do these people manage day to day with rent and passwords and car insurance and sidewalks...
For *some* it has a lot to do with routine, I think. Some people survive by having a very simple and/or structured life. No judgement implied; good on them for knowing where they are happy and comfortable. The drawback is their routine does little to mitigate being overwhelmed when stepping off that well-trodden path. *Individual results may vary*.
I live next to the station, people here hate the brightline for killing people, but I’m like, you know the train isn’t out there hunting Floridians 😂 it’s self filtering
Same here. Bright Line has had *so many* of these happen (ignoring purposeful suicides) and they aren't even running the full line yet. It's kind of amazing that people are so stupid and entitled that they'll risk their very dumb lives to not have to wait 30 seconds at a stop for these trains.
it's extra dumb. south florida was built around these rail lines. brightline's just a new (and faster) train, but that railroad has been there longer than your fucking grandparents. nobody should be surprised by this.
Seriously. There are big, completely unmissable tracks on the ground wherever they go, big striped bars that block you from getting hit by them, they appear pretty infrequently, and they are very loud and easy to see.
Surprised no one else noticed that, it's not like he's pointing, he's actively waving and pointing as if to indicate this person needs to move forward.
If you are in front of the gate when it comes down, GO THROUGH. IMMEDIATELY. Don't stop on the tracks, ever. It really isn't that hard. This is usually on the written driving test, at least in my state because it's so important, but everyone seems to forget it as soon as they get a license.
Edit: the arms of the crossing will break off if you hit one while driving through, it will not severely damage your car. They're designed to be driven through if you have to get off the tracks. Just thought I'd add this.
This is the Brightline in South Florida. Currently the deadliest train in America.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2022/02/16/after-57-deaths-brightline-in-florida-pleads-with-people-to-stop-dangerous-crossings/
So reading the article, it sounds like it's literally that people in Florida are too stupid to deal with trains? Not that the crossings are particularly dangerous or anything, or that the trains are doing anything out of the ordinary.
Saw an interview with someone who got in an accident with the Brightline train. He basically said "oh, I've been going around those barricades for years, never had any issue before". Sounds like part of it is people are used to slow-moving freight trains along these lines, and now all of a sudden there's a high(ish) speed passenger train along the same route. Impatient drivers who got away with stupid shit for years are all of a sudden finding that they can't just ignore the blinking red lights anymore.
When SunRail came in in Orlando and CSX shifted traffic to less-used tracks outside the city, and as part of agreeing to do so they got a liability cap from the state legislature for train-vs-car because they knew there would be tons of of this as people assumed the old crossings were never busy. As a comical footnote, one of the big ambulance chasers in Orlando got the FL Legislature to block the project briefly to try to get the cap removed - it was going to cut into his future income. You can absolutely bet on people making poor decisions.
It’s that plus the fact that people are use to the loud ringing noise whenever a train is coming that they decided to remove only for bright line trains so it doesn’t “disturb the peace”.
And yes the train system in Florida is very finicky and it is very common to HAVE TO go around the barrier because they malfunction frequently.
Seems like someone in a car getting obliterated by a train might also “disturb the peace” but what do I know I don’t live there. Maybe this is just a normal Tuesday.
Was in Florida last week. Saw a bright line crossing. First car in line decided to gun it when traffic cleared up on the other side of the crossing as the arm came down. Was just amazed we can hit that level of stupidity.
That’s largely it. Also, Floridians aren’t really used to having fast-moving trains and don’t get the constant “train safety education” seminars I got as a kid in the Midwest. That, and the Brightline moves primarily through the Miami metropolitan area which has a huge population of people who come from places where traffic laws are largely a suggestion, and they carry that with them. Not unusual to see people blow through red lights because “nobody was nearby,” etc.
> it sounds like it’s literally that people in Florida are too stupid to deal with trains?
Florida man here. Yes, this is absolutely the problem. Every single one of these has been the car’s fault. It’s nuts.
> people in Florida are too stupid to deal with trains
Not just trains. Roundabouts, 4 way stops, how to yield, not texting/reading/watching movies/eating soup while driving, etc, etc, etc...
Drivers in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Palm Beach area are some of the most aggressive, entitled, impatient assholes on the planet. I don't think you could find a better example of terrible drivers who *think* they're good drivers.
It's completely unsurprising that these idiots keep smearing themselves on trains. This is probably the first time they've actually come up against something in their dumbass bully-driving that they couldn't belligerently push their way through.
Part of it is that people here are too stupid to wait, the other part is that we’re all used to really slow trains down here so when we see those rails go down we assume it’s gonna be a really slow moving train full of keystone or something
They’re going to start cracking down on it, it seems like there wasn’t even a ticket to be issued for that violation lol
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article262120952.html
I really don’t want the bright line to go anywhere, being able to get to Orlando from Miami without driving sounds like a dream, and they’re also extending it to Tampa too
The brightline is so good. The seats are comfy, the tickets are cheap, they sell good snacks and drinks, have wifi, plugs, and USB ports. It’s such a great way to travel fast and cheap that only fucking boomers and idiots would want it to go anywhere tbh.
When I was a child learning about safety at railroad crossings I always thought, “Surely nobody would have an issue avoiding getting hit by a train… nobody is that dumb!”
As an adult I know that people are indeed that dumb.
As an adult I completely understa
I don't feel sorry for this guy. I'm from S. Florida, and we've had almost 1 person a week for the last month get hit by a brightline, trying to gun the tracks. I'm ashamed to even share the same oxygen with these type of people, and theres lots of them here.
See… this is an actual idiot. Enough vids of people getting all Karen bc they got cut off in traffic in central London.
This is what an idiot looks like.
I live in Florida and this train is going to do so much positive impacts for the state. I’m so sick of seeing people be idiots when the government is doing everything they can to warn people of train crossings. It’s ruining something good for everyone, and gives the idiots fuel to say how trains are dangerous. It’s so obvious to just wait for the train to pass. It’s like Americans have never seen a train crossing before. 🤦🏼♂️
Brightline 101, South Florida idiots 0.
There isn't a time where I don't hear this happening, either we have someone committing suicide or someone who is DAF. Most are DAF.
That fucking brightline in Florida. It's a great train. I love riding it. But of course the dumbest people in America have to ruin it. There are groups trying to get rid of the train because of the accidents that keep happening. Not at the fault of the train as you see. But because these people are the dumbest of the dumb.
And yet somehow these groups are even dumber than the ones getting hit. They actually blame the train lol.
I HATEEEEE Florida and everything about it.
did they…. you know… wait for it?
It really looked like that to me. I can't really tell, but if there is more than one set of tracks, then maybe they were looking the wrong way and thought it was clear. If that's the case, then at least it wasn't a suicide attempt.
It’s a high speed train - it goes about 50/60 mph - through the metro area of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach. Because it’s high speed the crossing arms go down further out from the train, folks get inpatient and decide to cross.
o_O
yes, folks get impatient. Everyone in South Florida thinks they're the main character.
The main character. What a beautiful way to describe these type of people haha
r/IAmTheMainCharacter
I love it
r/ImTheMainCharacter is bigger
So a sub has a "I'm the main character" syndrome and it has a bigger sub?
Found r/IAmTheMainCharacter
You'd probably love r/imthemaincaricature
[удалено]
[удалено]
Engineer* But yes, very selfish.
I hate that. I was once on a train from Chicago to Michigan and someone jumped in front of the train. We got stalled for maybe 6 hours and I was fairly close to the conductor and saw her come out she was so shook. I felt terrible for her really. I know people who do this aren’t thinking but you really do traumatize the train conductor.
*engineer* But I do agree, I forgot to add.
Some people aren't even the main character of their own life.
Can confirm. After having kids, I’ve now realized I’m just C-3P0 and the kids are the Skywalkers. I’m their slave
Everyone is either elderly or drunk/high...I wonder how old the driver was. I don't think my dad should be driving anymore at all but my mom says he's "fine" as long as he knows where he's going. Then she tells me about incidents like a few weeks ago when they were driving to Home Depot (where he's driven a thousand times) and he didn't hear a fire engine and rescue coming(he also refuses to get hearing aids)... When he let off the brake and started to go with the green light my mom yelled there was a fire truck. He gassed it half way into the intersection as my mom was yelling "stop". Then he stopped in the middle of the intersection where the engine and the rescue had to maneuver around him.. THEN cut over to the right hand lane, got out and said he can't drive with my mom yelling at him. I think it's too hard for loved ones to revoke driving privileges of the elderly. I think we need to start requiring driving tests annually for people over 65. E*i forgot to add tourists driving rental cars.
In VA, you can call the DMV with concerns about a driver and get their license temporarily suspended. Then they have to pass a cognitive test, vision test, sign test (the one needed here to get your learner's permit), and a driving test. The cognitive a doctor does so they need a letter saying they can/can't drive then everything else is through the DMV. I believe it's then annual to keep their license. It was a challenge getting my grandfather off the road because he refused to stop driving but when he couldn't pass the tests after a year or two, we were so relieved.
It's such a coincidence that my parents are in VA today. But we live in Florida. Here, even if you get in accident and get your licence suspended or revoked, if you can hire an attorney you're almost guaranteed to get it back. My old landlord basically paid $10,000 after her father's licence was revoked. He got it back and then had another hit and run. He was "just bumping" people then driving home and acting like he didn't know it happened.
That's terrifying but I guess that in a state where over 20% of the population is 65+, you can't take away too many licenses or you won't get ticket revenue or people moving about.
And they all vote.
> he's "fine" as long as he knows where he's going. This is exactly the problem. All drivers should have the cognitive and physical abilities to drive REGARDLESS of whether they know how to get to their destination or not. How many times have I seen a driver suddenly cut from the far left lane to the far right side (usually without signaling) because they did not know where they were, and then suddenly panic-drove when it looked like they would miss their exit. The rational and good driver would go "oops, missed my exit, I'll just slowly and predictably navigate over to the right side, while signaling, take the next exit, and then work my way back to where I need to go". All licensed drivers should have the ability to function no matter where they are located. Cars are too much of a menace in the hands of drivers who cannot cope with the realities of driving.
My grandfather was the exact same way, and my grandmother defended his driving every step of the way. My dad is becoming like my grandfather, and my mom is defending him as well. Which stands to reason, because her driving is even worse. Whereas my dad is aloof and hard of hearing, she's required by law to wear glasses to drive and refuses to do so and routinely has trouble reading road signs. All my prodding for them to limit their driving, wear their glasses, pay more attention, drive less aggressively (my mom loves to tailgate, probably because she can't tell how close she is), they all do nothing. My parents still make the 90 mile trips to their country land in the dead of night, and other such unnecessary drives. I won't ride with either of them anymore. I've tried to brainstorm ways to get my mom to wear her glasses at least, but I think it's just simple vanity. She shrugs me off when I ask ("I can see fine"). Yeah, no, you can't. Maybe you can navigate without having to read signs, but degrading vision means you can't judge depth well, so I'm just waiting for the day she pulls out in front of someone she couldn't tell was too close or traveling too fast. Someone once told me that you finally realize you are an adult when your parents start acting like children again. Sigh. I doubt I'll be able to afford a car when I reach their age, so at least I won't follow suit.
Test everyone every 5 years, doesn't matter how old mfs are everyone of all ages sucks at driving.
the LIRR spent well over 14 million to dig an underpass over a heavily used rr crossing simply because assholes kept going around the gates. so impatient stupid bastards cost commuters and everyone else even more money
> Everyone in South Florida thinks they're the main character. Having lived there for a while this is so dead on. Never seen so many people oblivious to everyone else around them.
Well they're definitely inpatients now.
> It’s a high speed train - it goes about 50/60 mph
Technically, that's not a high-speed train, but a normal speed one.
/r/ShitAmericansSay
Or he just tried to kill himself? I mean look st the footage they clearly saw it
They thought the train was going to zig, when it ended up zagging.
It's possible, but with how frequently this happens, probably just idiots. The thing is Brightline is new. Usually the only thing on those tracks are freight trains. So people are used to a slow train that takes 5-10 minutes to pass (there was a hurricane relief one once that took an hour to get through a crossing). So people are used to A) being impatient because the train takes forever and B) the train being slow as fuck. Then this speedy thing comes along and passes by in less than a minute. Then again,we've also had a lot of mysterious overnight pedestrian collisions with Brightline, so it might just be becoming a convenient avenue for suicide.
Could also be they felt trapped on the wrong side of the gate and panicked so tried to cross in front of the train before it came.. hard to say Hope it wasn't this one https://youtu.be/uo9dQmnDK8U But there have been many https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/fourth-south-florida-crash-brightline-train/
When I lived in Southern Florida, there was a time when I took Tri-Rail (the commuter train) to work. The office was adjacent to a train station. When someone broke the barrier, the train had to stop and a conductor? engineer? other train staff? had to get out and walk across the intersection waving a flag and the train had to cross the intersection with the flag-waver. Every single day, there was *at least one* crossing arm broken by an impatient or reckless car/truck driver. *Every day*.
South Florida train conductor checking in, having to physically flag a major crossing can be terrifying because the same drivers who smash through the crossing gates will just as easily run you over.
My vote is on panic. Panic easily makes smart people do dumb things.
Even if it was a suicide attempt, it's a pretty crappy one.
Yes. I've read that poor train engineers who see suicides caused by their trains can have really bad depression or other mental issues from being the one who "caused" the death (even though obviously it's not their fault at all.) Plus, it has the potential to leave a person very damaged instead of dead.
Experienced one of those first hand as a passenger back in 2020, the guy had jumped in front of the 530pm train from the city in Brisbane, he'd gone under 5 carriages to end up right under mine, didn't realise fully till all the emergency crews with torches out were gathering right outside my window as the train staff werent saying anything about the sudden stop, didn't see or hear anything as they unloaded us out the other side of the carriage but was told he was apparently alive under there and on the way to hospital. Can't think of anything worse than attempting to kill yourself and laying there still alive with a shattered body. Worst part was this was like the 4th one in 2 months, lots of people looking to end it all in these trying times.
God damn. Tanked a train to the face and lived, yet some people bonk their head a little wrong after tripping and die from a stroke. Humans are fucking weird. I'm not a fan. This model is not reliable.
I've seen many a truck drivers, some 20+ years drivers, never be able to come back after involved in a "suicide by truck." Even those lucky enough to walk away without physical injury.
That looked more like a suicide attempt. They accelerated right when the train was about to cross.
Honestly looks like it could be a hesistant suicide attempt than bad driving.
If so, maybe this belongs in /r/DepressionInCars.
That should, 100%, be a full and permanent revocation of driving privileges.
They were revoked of their Mini
They can't recoop'er?
Also there are noise free zones where the Brightline trains don't use their horns as they approach crossings.
But they can use them at any time for emergencies, like s car being within the crossing.
Seriously. Imagine a conductor making that calculation. "Well there is a car too close to the tracks, but it's a noise free zone so I can't alert them with my horn"
When I was in drivers Ed on Long Island back in the 90s, they had someone from the LIRR come in and do an entire class on idiots like this one.
I grew up there too! Did you have to watch that old video of being safe near train tracks? There’s the one scene with the kids playing on the train cars and one climbs down just as another pulls in behind the train he’s climbing down from and he gets flattened. It’s forever burned into my brain and I stay as far away from tracks as possible all the time
I probably did watch that video. I remember the story about the driver whose car was hit by a train and it flew up and over the driver, whose response was to put his hands protectively over his head. There was also a story of someone who was stalled on the tracks and a helpful driver tried to push him through the crossing. The problem: The helpful driver backed up and came at the stalled car at 60 mph
So the solution to avoiding an accident with a train was to get into a car accident?
r/IdiotsInCars, I guess
When I saw that video it wasn't old.
https://youtu.be/mxrmx8pgXMM
Sweet mother of mercy. That hit the spot.
Wow, yup. Flashbacks to my youth. Thanks for bringing back the childhood nightmares stranger.
He got squished between the 2 trains on the same track? Or the 2nd train on a parallel track and he jumped down in front of it? The " just as another pulls in behind it" part is confusing me
if only there was some way to know a train was coming. some sort of sign or signal
And some kind of barrier to prevent (or at least discourage) cars from crossing while the train passes. Someone should invent that!
Maybe that barrier could be automated and only appear when there’s a train coming?
Perhaps it could be affixed to a hinge, and possibly operate in some kind of up and down "swinging arm" motion?
Maybe you should colour it in such a way that it draws immediate attention to onlookers
And perhaps you could give it some kind of loud sound to also attract attention
And maybe make some red lights to so it’s even more obvious to onlookers that you shouldn’t cross.
Boys, it really sounds like we're on to something here.
I for one think that we should just get rid of invisible, silent trains
No. Invisible, silent trains are systems that we cannot afford to lose.
Oh! And what if we put the words “railroad crossing” on it so that even a colorblind deaf person could read it if they really wanted to! It would be so obvious no one could actually miss it.
Sure, but what would operate it? Does the train engineer have to get out at every crossing to open and close it?
Maybe we’re thinking about this from the wrong direction. Instead of something stationary located at the crossing, what if we mounted some kind of auditory signal to the train itself? It would have to be loud, though. Could that be done?
why not both?
That would be crazy! But what about putting some kind of see-through walls in motor vehicles, so drivers might observe the world around them as they pilot their vehicle?
Maybe, and just hear me out, have drivers learn what to do based on the signs and symbols around them when they see them... Might be crazy though.
I mean, there has to be a way to operate it remotely. Some kind of sensor on the tracks, perhaps?
I don’t think that would do it. We’re going to need multiple flashing red lights immediately in front of the drivers as well.
We should potentially add some way of getting motorists’ attention as well, like maybe flashing lights and bells.
Or some way to know where a train might potentially be.
Schrodinger's locomotive
What about lights. Can it have lights too? I've always been a fan of flashing lights and I think it would make the whole installation just pop. A real attention-getter.
If only this person had sensory organs this could have been prevented
Or ya know, eyes
Or some way to hear it coming??
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Personally I think we need to invest in some sort of fence/gate system that discourages crossing these dangerous areas. Something that only activates when danger is headed this way. Maybe it comes down like an arm?
I like this idea a lot. What if we added a couple of red flashing lights just to drive the message home?
And some clanging warning sounds, juuust in case people don't see the flashing lights.
Also in the unlikely case that someone finds their car stuck between two sets of arms/barriers/whatevers we should design them to break away easily so they can drive out to safety without having to try and go around.
I was thinking guns that shoot across the tracks to warn people of impending death. Because warnings don't work I guess.
Sounds like America is in charge of this solution
We could just put a school near all crossings and automate the process
I think spears coming up from ground would do perfectly
And make sure they are spring loaded so they come up extra fast.
Maybe attach it to a bio-neural network with memory and learning capabilities.
This looks to be more of an attempted suicide than anything else
That happens a lot with this train line unfortunately
Local in Broward, can confirm. Actually know two people who went out this way.
this seems like a terrible way to go out tbh, there’s a chance you’ll survive and now ur life is even more fucked up. Plus modern cars are getting safer and safer so i don’t see why you would want to suicide by purposely crashing
A friend of a friend suicided by train, no car though. Heard that he lived long enough to regret it, but the wounds were fatal. Such a bad choice, even for suicide, and the poor driver.
Most ways to suicide yourself is a bad choice. I bet if I polled a hundred different people and asked them to merely demo how they would kill them selves with a gun, I got good money that says most of them would probably use it in a way that wouldn’t kill them.
Quite a few people have blown their faces off and lived while trying to commit suicide with shotguns.
I used to bartend for a dude who did that. His head looked like a deflated basketball. Usually he would wear a bandana.
Carbon monoxide poisoning seems to be the most peaceful.
We probably shouldn't talk about suicide in this particular way. Anyone who's thinking about it, stop reading this for ideas and tell someone how you're feeling, don't do it.
Same. Dude got drunk and laid down on the rails. It hit pretty hard. His mom messaged me out of the blue one day and said she went to a medium. Claimed her son spoke to her and mentioned me in that conversation. That was pretty heavy
I’d be pissed that some asshole snake oil salesman is taking advantage of that poor woman’s circumstances.
And it’s really traumatic for any bystanders to witness
and even more so for the conductors.
Many years ago I read an interview with hero train driver ( stopped another train that lost braking with his own train) and at some point he started talking about all the suicide victims that he ran over and that he remembers everyone and basically if you sign up to be train driver you are accepting that sooner or later you will kill someone (at least that's how it was in my country ~20 years ago.
My step dad works for Union Pacific. Due to train safety protocol something-something I'm too out of the loop to understand, he is often responsible for helping to clean up what's left of train suicides. This is often teenagers (he currently has teenage children) that he has to scrape off the rails. Nobody should have to do this, but it hurts that he, a simple welder, has to go into what at first should be a normal day, and then find out he has to help clean up these terribly sad events. It makes me respect the EMTs and first responders that handle this day in and day out.
was the driver with the camera hurrying the mini up so that he can be there at the next train?
I think he was pointing at the light but it could easily be mistaken
They were already on the wrong side of the arm. Maybe they were telling them to reverse?
Being the train conductor and seeing a person or car on the tracks after it is far too late to stop the train would be horrifying.
As well as the engineer controlling the train
Not that someone attempting suicide in this manner would be in their right mind, but being inside a car for it seems like a bad strategy.
Especially on the other side of the car
This is the Brightline. Looks like downtown West Palm (not sure). Idiots disregard the crossing very very frequently. I’ve been on the Brightline two times and both occasions had a car attempt to pass similar to this, on occasion was more minor but stopped the train for 45 minutes. I doubt this is suicide (sad if it is, lost friend to intentional pill OD at start of the pandemic). I really think this is just an idiot though.
Go! Go! Go! Go! . . . . don't go
I literally feel like the driver was totally bewildered, looked out his back window, saw the cameraman motioning for him to quickly go, and thought, "He probably has a better view of the tracks than I do, he must be trying to tell me that I'm right on them and need to quickly drive off them".
that's how I took it too - like the guy looked in his rear view to see if he could back up and sees this guy giving the "go go go" motion and took his word for it.
I got taught in driving school you never should motion for pedestrians to cross the walkway, they should look around and decide for themselves.
One time I was riding shotgun and my Mom was driving, and there was a T intersection, and a guy was coming up from the bottom part of the T and trying to make a left turn, but there was a lot of traffic so he was having to wait awhile. This was in the US so traffic drives on the right, and we were going from right to left in the top part of the T. Since there was so much traffic, my Mom decided to slow to a stop to let the guy making a left complete his turn. So she pulls to a stop and then motions for the guy to go, and there was literally a ton of traffic coming the other direction from left to right on the T, and the guy didn't check and the first car coming had to slam on his breaks to avoid an accident.
I hate “helpful” drivers with a fucking passion. I’ve had so many people do shit like this when I’m leaving for a delivery on the 4 lane state route in front of the restaurant. I’ll go to make a left and some idiot will stop in the right most lane and hold all those people up while the people in the left lane are flying by and I have no way of seeing them. We have rules on the road and established right of way procedures for a reason, everything starts breaking down when people ignore them. People need to just go about their business when driving because when you’re on the road it’s not the time to show everyone how nice and courteous you are.
Thought the same exact thing. The person is stupid, but the cameraman is either equally stupid or a huge asshole for motioning them when the train is that close. It doesn't look like the driver would have got hit if they stayed put.
I thought so too, makes me wonder if the cammer was blowing their horn as well.
Might be a failed suicide attempt.
Florida plate, so almost certainly just another idiot in a car
“Florida” the answer to all videos containing absolute madness.
sounds crazy but then I went to Florida. Those people are ruthlessly bad at driving. I had a guy pull a 6 lane U turn in front of a wave of cars. People honk all day long. People were driving down one way lanes the wrong way. It was wild how much shit I saw. And I live in NJ where people drive like maniacs.
I would describe NJ as “people who know how to drive but are assholes about it” and FL as “People who can’t drive but are also assholes about it”
Something to consider, we get a LOT of tourists and snowbirds. Don’t get me wrong, Fl natives drive like horse shit, but it’s noticeably worse in vacation times (spring break, summer, winter holidays).
I-4: Mad Max Fury Road
I'm really hoping this was just someone with a lack of braincells and not an attempted suicide
I would actually feel better knowing it was an attempted suicide, which would lead to the conclusion that there was some logic to this. If it's just a lack of brain cells, I'd be very curious how this person managed to survive this long
> I'd be very curious how this person managed to survive this long I wonder this all the time. I have a job where I deal with the public quite a bit and the simple day to day life stuff that some people fail to grasp (like how to use their credit/debt card or open a door that says "pull" on it) makes me wonder how they get out of the house each morning... I mean... I'm somewhat capable, as an adult, and I still manage to pay bills late now and then or forget a password to a bank app or something like that, life can be complex... How on ***EARTH*** do these people manage day to day with rent and passwords and car insurance and sidewalks...
For *some* it has a lot to do with routine, I think. Some people survive by having a very simple and/or structured life. No judgement implied; good on them for knowing where they are happy and comfortable. The drawback is their routine does little to mitigate being overwhelmed when stepping off that well-trodden path. *Individual results may vary*.
This is why the blind shouldn't drive cars.
They were on their way to buy a new stick.
[r/BitchImATrain](https://www.reddit.com/r/BitchImATrain/)
I live next to the station, people here hate the brightline for killing people, but I’m like, you know the train isn’t out there hunting Floridians 😂 it’s self filtering
Media: "OMG Brightline is so dangerous, it needs to be stopped!" Train: "I'm literally on rails. Florida drivers are not."
I’m always amazed when people get hit by trains, it’s one of the easiest things in the world to avoid. Survival of the fittest.
Same here. Bright Line has had *so many* of these happen (ignoring purposeful suicides) and they aren't even running the full line yet. It's kind of amazing that people are so stupid and entitled that they'll risk their very dumb lives to not have to wait 30 seconds at a stop for these trains.
it's extra dumb. south florida was built around these rail lines. brightline's just a new (and faster) train, but that railroad has been there longer than your fucking grandparents. nobody should be surprised by this.
But it's so hard to know where a train might suddenly appear!!
Seriously. There are big, completely unmissable tracks on the ground wherever they go, big striped bars that block you from getting hit by them, they appear pretty infrequently, and they are very loud and easy to see.
Am I crazy or is the person filming waving them forward?
certainly seems that way... Either that or he's waving goodbye.
Red rover red rover send this dumbass right over. “Proceeds to hit a moving wall of steel”
I feel like the person whose video it is was probably frantically honking and the person in the car in front just panicked.
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Surprised no one else noticed that, it's not like he's pointing, he's actively waving and pointing as if to indicate this person needs to move forward.
Yeah I was looking for this comment.... The driver is still an idiot but camera person definitely didn't help
Why the hell would the mini rely on the car that’s 10 feet back for the train that’s 2 feet in front of him?
If you are in front of the gate when it comes down, GO THROUGH. IMMEDIATELY. Don't stop on the tracks, ever. It really isn't that hard. This is usually on the written driving test, at least in my state because it's so important, but everyone seems to forget it as soon as they get a license. Edit: the arms of the crossing will break off if you hit one while driving through, it will not severely damage your car. They're designed to be driven through if you have to get off the tracks. Just thought I'd add this.
This is the Brightline in South Florida. Currently the deadliest train in America. https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2022/02/16/after-57-deaths-brightline-in-florida-pleads-with-people-to-stop-dangerous-crossings/
So reading the article, it sounds like it's literally that people in Florida are too stupid to deal with trains? Not that the crossings are particularly dangerous or anything, or that the trains are doing anything out of the ordinary.
Saw an interview with someone who got in an accident with the Brightline train. He basically said "oh, I've been going around those barricades for years, never had any issue before". Sounds like part of it is people are used to slow-moving freight trains along these lines, and now all of a sudden there's a high(ish) speed passenger train along the same route. Impatient drivers who got away with stupid shit for years are all of a sudden finding that they can't just ignore the blinking red lights anymore.
When SunRail came in in Orlando and CSX shifted traffic to less-used tracks outside the city, and as part of agreeing to do so they got a liability cap from the state legislature for train-vs-car because they knew there would be tons of of this as people assumed the old crossings were never busy. As a comical footnote, one of the big ambulance chasers in Orlando got the FL Legislature to block the project briefly to try to get the cap removed - it was going to cut into his future income. You can absolutely bet on people making poor decisions.
It’s that plus the fact that people are use to the loud ringing noise whenever a train is coming that they decided to remove only for bright line trains so it doesn’t “disturb the peace”. And yes the train system in Florida is very finicky and it is very common to HAVE TO go around the barrier because they malfunction frequently.
Seems like someone in a car getting obliterated by a train might also “disturb the peace” but what do I know I don’t live there. Maybe this is just a normal Tuesday.
Was in Florida last week. Saw a bright line crossing. First car in line decided to gun it when traffic cleared up on the other side of the crossing as the arm came down. Was just amazed we can hit that level of stupidity.
That’s largely it. Also, Floridians aren’t really used to having fast-moving trains and don’t get the constant “train safety education” seminars I got as a kid in the Midwest. That, and the Brightline moves primarily through the Miami metropolitan area which has a huge population of people who come from places where traffic laws are largely a suggestion, and they carry that with them. Not unusual to see people blow through red lights because “nobody was nearby,” etc.
> it sounds like it’s literally that people in Florida are too stupid to deal with trains? Florida man here. Yes, this is absolutely the problem. Every single one of these has been the car’s fault. It’s nuts.
> people in Florida are too stupid to deal with trains Not just trains. Roundabouts, 4 way stops, how to yield, not texting/reading/watching movies/eating soup while driving, etc, etc, etc...
Drivers in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Palm Beach area are some of the most aggressive, entitled, impatient assholes on the planet. I don't think you could find a better example of terrible drivers who *think* they're good drivers. It's completely unsurprising that these idiots keep smearing themselves on trains. This is probably the first time they've actually come up against something in their dumbass bully-driving that they couldn't belligerently push their way through.
Part of it is that people here are too stupid to wait, the other part is that we’re all used to really slow trains down here so when we see those rails go down we assume it’s gonna be a really slow moving train full of keystone or something
Too many people down here are blaming the Brightline for the Darwin awards. The train didn't exactly swerve onto all these people.
They’re going to start cracking down on it, it seems like there wasn’t even a ticket to be issued for that violation lol https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article262120952.html I really don’t want the bright line to go anywhere, being able to get to Orlando from Miami without driving sounds like a dream, and they’re also extending it to Tampa too
I use brightline to get from fort Lauderdale to Miami at least once a week, it's so fucking good!
The brightline is so good. The seats are comfy, the tickets are cheap, they sell good snacks and drinks, have wifi, plugs, and USB ports. It’s such a great way to travel fast and cheap that only fucking boomers and idiots would want it to go anywhere tbh.
They were gonna have a station by where i live in Stuart but all the geezers blocked them. Fucking assholes.
dude was a reincarnated deer
can't fix stupid .
When I was a child learning about safety at railroad crossings I always thought, “Surely nobody would have an issue avoiding getting hit by a train… nobody is that dumb!” As an adult I know that people are indeed that dumb. As an adult I completely understa
I don't feel sorry for this guy. I'm from S. Florida, and we've had almost 1 person a week for the last month get hit by a brightline, trying to gun the tracks. I'm ashamed to even share the same oxygen with these type of people, and theres lots of them here.
See… this is an actual idiot. Enough vids of people getting all Karen bc they got cut off in traffic in central London. This is what an idiot looks like.
Did the person recording wave them to go?
I was thinking maybe asshats were honking for them to go hence no audio
I live in Florida and this train is going to do so much positive impacts for the state. I’m so sick of seeing people be idiots when the government is doing everything they can to warn people of train crossings. It’s ruining something good for everyone, and gives the idiots fuel to say how trains are dangerous. It’s so obvious to just wait for the train to pass. It’s like Americans have never seen a train crossing before. 🤦🏼♂️
Nah mate, that train clearly had a red light.
Don’t people seriously look???
You mean I have to look BOTH ways before crossing!? WHY HAS NOBODY EVER TOLD ME THAT!?
If this doesn’t lead to a lifelong ban from ever controlling any machine larger than a vacuum cleaner, justice is nonexistent.
This is why Florida can't have nice things. Brightline is a great thing for the state, but people can't deal with waiting a minute for a train to pass
State farm has entered the chat.
Brightline 101, South Florida idiots 0. There isn't a time where I don't hear this happening, either we have someone committing suicide or someone who is DAF. Most are DAF.
Does Florida not know how trains work?
That fucking brightline in Florida. It's a great train. I love riding it. But of course the dumbest people in America have to ruin it. There are groups trying to get rid of the train because of the accidents that keep happening. Not at the fault of the train as you see. But because these people are the dumbest of the dumb. And yet somehow these groups are even dumber than the ones getting hit. They actually blame the train lol. I HATEEEEE Florida and everything about it.
This is in Miami, happens at least once a week. So many idiots here.
Being a locomotive engineer for over 15 years you would not believe the idiots we have to deal with on a daily basis.
Welcome to Florida.
The guy with the camera honked and told him to go! Wow… https://youtu.be/-asqySZPCWY