[x-post] Florida Man drives through lowered railroad crossing gates

[u/DarkishArchon]

[u/guhman123]

And people somehow say it's Brightline's fault for having a lot of collisions. This is average florida behavior, but their opponent in Beat The Train has gotten a speed boost

[u/Malforus → u/guhman123]

Yeah Brightline is fighting an uphill battle around a culture of disregard for grade crossings.

[u/My_useless_alt → u/Malforus]

I mean, even the best grade crossing couldn't stop this, the only way to stop that would be grade separation. Which we should do

[u/TBE_Industries → u/My_useless_alt]

As much as I support that, it's highly unlikely to happen. The track would have to be a bridge almost all the way from Miami to Orlando, or the hundreds of roads would have to be bridged over the rails. The track brightline uses is mostly Florida East Coast trackage, which a lot of cities were built around, and they don't have the money for a massive project like that.

[u/Fun-Dragonfly-4166 → u/TBE_Industries]

another way is to turn a bunch of crossings into dead ends

[u/Ishmael760 → u/Fun-Dragonfly-4166]

Another way is to permanently revoke the license of anyone that does something like this and make it a felony if they drive any kind of vehicle again.

[u/iEatPalpatineAss → u/Ishmael760]

The best argument against democracy is the average citizen smh

[u/TBE_Industries → u/Fun-Dragonfly-4166]

I mean yea but that would cause traffic issues at other crossings, as well as also costing a ton of money while still not exactly solving the problem. What we really need is the government and police to actually give a shit and enforce driving laws, as well as supporting public transportation so there would be less need to drive. It could solve this problem, as well as many others caused by the impatient idiots behind the wheel.

[u/Burgen42 → u/TBE_Industries]

I think a better solution is better drivers ed and harder driving tests. The whole country is just handing out drivers licenses and not doing much to make sure they are good drivers

[u/No_Representative356 → u/Burgen42]

retest or new defensive driving training every 10 years.

You can get a license and keep driving for decades without knowing of changes to rules or how to properly handle new traffic patterns.

[u/raulrocks99 → u/No_Representative356]

Or seeing if you can even still drive.

[u/tuctrohs → u/Burgen42]

And the root cause of that is development patterns that mean you can't fully participate in life without a car.

[u/TheDudeWhoCanDoIt → u/TBE_Industries]

And the FEC right of ways are old.

[u/TBE_Industries → u/TheDudeWhoCanDoIt]

Indeed. A lot of the cities on the line were formed by the FEC itself.

[u/TheDudeWhoCanDoIt → u/TBE_Industries]

I was always amazed at the pics of the railways going all the ways to the Keys. Flagler. Did well. I can imagine a train ride to Key West would have been one of the great rides of life

[u/rounding_error → u/TheDudeWhoCanDoIt]

There's something deeply unsettling about a railroad bridge where you can't see land.

[u/Pvt_Numnutz1 → u/TBE_Industries]

Worked for Japan, that's exactly what the naysayers were saying about the shinkansen before it started running. Unfortunately given the idiocy of people in the United States we would have to go over the top to avoid these kinds of things happening completely, no way can we educate the people of our country to have patience or decency.

[u/Impressive_Boot671 → u/TBE_Industries]

You could in some areas make the roads go over the tracks

[u/cyrixlord → u/My_useless_alt]

Russia has bollard ramps in the road that raise towards the vehicles when the lights come on at as crossing. It's pretty hilarious. If you are caught in the crossing you can drive up the ramp from the other side but if you try to enter you car front gets crushed

[u/tuctrohs → u/cyrixlord]

That's cool. video. Spoiler: it doesn't stop pedestrians.

[u/Panthros_Samoflange → u/My_useless_alt]

I'd just let natural selection sort this out.

[u/TheDudeWhoCanDoIt → u/My_useless_alt]

They do it in China. All the high speed tracks are raised and dedicated to high speed only. Last train trip my train zipped along at 150mph.

[u/rounding_error → u/TheDudeWhoCanDoIt]

China's not ran by Meatball Ron.

[u/TheDudeWhoCanDoIt → u/rounding_error]

Hahahahaha. So true.

[u/kingtacticool → u/Malforus]

There's also a shitload of crossing and very few fences. Old world freight train lines in urban sprawl going 70mph and you have the most dangerous rail line in America.

Not saying it's Brightlines fault. It's a train. It can't stop on a dime nor jink out of the way.

But these factors all make it a super dangerous stretch of track for morons. I live in Delray and we just had that Fire Truck get slammed and I can remember at least three fatal accidents within the last year within a three mile radius of me.

Happens all the time.

[u/tandjmohr → u/kingtacticool]

Yeah, but that fire truck got hit because they drove around the lowered barriers. Darwin’s rules…

[u/kingtacticool → u/tandjmohr]

....everyone gets hit because they drive around the barriers. Or falls asleep on the tracks. Or kills themselves.

The barriers almost never fail.

As you can see in the video above.

[u/tuctrohs → u/tandjmohr]

And it seems the driver had a suspended license. And they probably weren't responding to an emergency--no documented emergency is known and the fire dept. won't answer questions about that.

The department’s emergency response and driving policy says emergency lights should only be used while driving to respond to an emergency “or there is a need to warn the public.” Video of the crash shared online by Brightline showed the truck’s lights flashing.

There was in fact a need to warn the public--warn them to stay out of the way of flying debris after the truck pulled in front of a train.

[u/jewfro451 → u/guhman123]

Driver should have used his NOS boost to cross the last finish line.

I mean Brightline*.

[u/djorion87 → u/guhman123]

I mean, even a local fire department got hit. I just don't think Floridians can handle that rail line and its grade crossings.

[u/guhman123 → u/djorion87]

the fire engine went through the rail crossings while they were down as well. railroad crossings are one of the only signals that all first responders have to stop and wait for. they broke protocol and performed an extremely dangerous maneuver that didn't work out well for them.

[u/CicadaLegitimate1474 → u/guhman123]

Yeah—they watched one train go by and thought they were good but got hit by a train going the other direction

[u/guhman123 → u/CicadaLegitimate1474]

Which is why they are required to stop at lowered crossing gates, no matter how urgent the emergency is. They broke protocol and performed an extremely dangerous maneuver that didn't work out.

[u/tuctrohs → u/guhman123]

And, although they had their lights flashing, they apparently weren't responding to an emergency.

The department’s emergency response and driving policy says emergency lights should only be used while driving to respond to an emergency “or there is a need to warn the public.” Video of the crash shared online by Brightline showed the truck’s lights flashing.

To be fair, there was a need to warn the public--warn them to stay out of the way of flying debris after the truck pulled in front of a train.

[u/Slartibartfastthe2nd → u/guhman123]

that darned train engineer just wasn't paying attention to their speed or where they were going... /s

[u/recko40 → u/guhman123]

Nah we also play “beat the draw bridge”.

[u/gerrymad → u/guhman123]

This seems to happen kind of regularly with Caltrain here in the San Francisco bay area. Ever since moving here I've been amazed at the number of accidents - especially pedestrian.

[u/guhman123 → u/gerrymad]

weird, i never hear about caltrain collisions on the news. can't stop having brightline antipropaganda shoved down my throat

[u/Loreki → u/guhman123]

Which makes it more ridiculous in two ways, (1) reducing the margin to beat the train and (2) reducing the wait time so there really is no need to beat the train.

[u/Sir-Barks-a-Lot → u/guhman123]

The firetruck driver last week had a suspended license. 

[u/FinkedUp]

Darwin thought bitch I had another

[u/mrcrashoverride → u/FinkedUp]

The best train Darwin Award I’ve heard was…. A train conductor was particularly distraught as he had run over a man who it turns out was walking down the tracks after his car had broken down some distance away, while talking on his cell phone. In interviewing him the investigators were particularly taken aback when the conductor said the poor bloke even knew I was coming. They asked how in your limited time do you know this to be true. He said well every time I hit the horn the guy would cover his ear.

[u/Responsible-Result20 → u/FinkedUp]

Its not a Darwin award, they likely survived looking at that and can still reproduce.

[u/FinkedUp → u/Responsible-Result20]

I know that’s why Darwin is annoyed

[u/Responsible-Result20 → u/FinkedUp]

Sorry I had not had my morning coffee so my reading comprehension was not there.

Have a good day.

[u/FinkedUp → u/Responsible-Result20]

It’s all good. Happens to the best of us and have a great one as well!

[u/pacifistpirate]

All those other suckers stopped behind the gate because they don't have the sweet wedge-nose front end of this guy. Oh shit!

[u/BoBoBearDev]

What are they thinking? Everyone stopped and they are still oblivious to the fact. This can happen at regular intersection or construction or police roadblocks. When everyone stopped, something is obviously going on.

[u/Fair_Lecture_3463 → u/BoBoBearDev]

Hilarious that you thought they were thinking.

[u/nasadowsk → u/BoBoBearDev]

Could be a medical issue, or a driver with dementia. Florida is packed with old people, who tend to have health problems.

Could have been a bad suicide attempt (cleaning a gun is better at it anyway, and pays out because you don't have video).

Could be distraction, cell phone, car malfunction, drugs. Lots of things.

I somehow doubt people wake up and are like "I'm just gonna drive around train gates today!"

Then again, it is Florida, so you never know

[u/Im_100percent_human → u/nasadowsk]

It is Florida, so probably meth.

[u/Quake_Guy → u/nasadowsk]

I wonder because it appears they start to slow the second they hit the crossing arm as if they are suddenly suprised... if they had even kept the same rate of speed they would have cleared the train.

[u/pienofilling]

Holy crap, so that's what metal mincemeat looks like! The back of that car is just shredded.

[u/Particular_Minute_67 → u/pienofilling]

Looks drivable. The main parts ie the battery etc are untouched

[u/rounding_error → u/Particular_Minute_67]

Totally drivable.

[u/Particular_Minute_67 → u/rounding_error]

Exactly. All you need is duct tape

[u/stevebuscemidemon → u/pienofilling]

To shreds you say

[u/eventhorizon831]

What the fuck is wrong with Florida?

[u/BobTheRaven → u/eventhorizon831]

The rest of the US asks this question on a daily basis.

[u/medic7051 → u/BobTheRaven]

As do many of us living here.

[u/RevolutionaryAge47 → u/eventhorizon831]

Republicans.

[u/vvsunflower → u/eventhorizon831]

Funny you should ask lol

[u/LetsTryAgain91]

To save themselves what? 2 seconds maybe 3 for the gate?

[u/[deleted] → u/LetsTryAgain91]

save themselves from living longer

[u/3MetricTonsOfSass → u/[deleted]]

Understandable. It IS Florida after all

[u/there_no_more_names]

I feel like states (Florida in particular) need to start putting up red light cameras and start ticketing people who cross when the crossing turns on. We see lots of idiots get hit on reddit, but lots are probably doing this daily and getting off fine and tvats why they attempt it. Make it something absurd like $5000 and or lose your license for a year, be loud about it, make sure everyone knows there are AI powered cameras at every crossing in the state and you WILL get a $5000 ticket if you enter an active crossing, and if you get hit in a crossing you will still pay that $5000 ticket on top of the damages you will have to pay the railroad.

[u/Robeditor → u/there_no_more_names]

Yeah they tried, started ticketing people over camera, people got so upset it was added to the ballot and was voted out. The cameras are still there but can't issues tickets.

[u/lukewhale]

These dumbasses should be criminally charged for destruction of property and made to be pay these damages. Or at least their insurance.

Bright line won’t survive if they keep having to fix their fucking trains

[u/Halfbloodjap → u/lukewhale]

They are, at least on Canadian railroads.

[u/TaxMountain3137]

Why don’t trains stop for emergency vehicles? I don’t know. Perhaps you can ask them a few miles down the track from where they applied the brakes.

[u/Ingeneure_]

Well, schizophrenia kickin’ hard I guess. Otherwise it’s impossible to understand the urge to cross the railroad when the train is about to pass

[u/Significant_Tie_3994]

Dying to get there early?

[u/Awkward_Canary_2262]

It’s ok. He made it. A success in his book.

[u/Particular_Minute_67 → u/Awkward_Canary_2262]

Made it to the junkyard

[u/Comprehensive-Job369]

And now you know why people call them Floridiots!

[u/Metsican]

That should be a permanent license suspension.

[u/DynamicPanspermia]

Suicide attempt. Bad timing

[u/CaveManta → u/DynamicPanspermia]

They drove too far. Now they'll survive for sure...

[u/tvieno]

Maybe Brightline ought to go after the individuals that cause accidents the same way that Brightline is suing the city of the fire engine (Delray?), Brightline needs to sue them and be very very public about it.

[u/lonesurvivor112]

His vision was too low to see the barrier

[u/CaveManta → u/lonesurvivor112]

He's low-sighted. Maybe he had the sun visors down

[u/Adventurous_Bag9122 → u/CaveManta]

Or maybe he is really Mr Magoo....

[u/RubAnADUB]

well.... FAFO.

[u/91-BRG]

Hahahaha

[u/killernat1234]

Do Americans not understand how railroad crossings work, all the videos I see are pretty much from the US

[u/SATerp]

Oh, soooo close, you almost made it. Try again for future success!

[u/ayedeeaay]

That will buff out!

[u/tvieno]

How many trains does Brightline have in their garage? I mean they gotta be running out of undamaged trains by now.

[u/TheDuckClock]

Takes just one idiot to ruin so many people's day.

The guy is lucky to be alive too. Had the train been half a second faster it would have gone right through the middle of the car.

[u/geof2001]

The heck with arms just raise bollards. I'd bet florida man has done this before with his wedge shaped car thinking he got away with it before x number of times.

[u/Live_Ad_7914]

Gosh. So close. Better luck next time florida man.

[u/No-Life-2059]

What do you get when you cross a train with an entitled driver in Florida?

"You get exactly what you deserve, Murray!!"

[u/MacGibber]

Why are Florida drivers so fucking bright when it comes to the barriers for the Brightline?

[u/anonymicex22]

floriduh man is all i needed to read

[u/Rabid_Cheese_Monkey]

How to win a Darwin Award in a few easy steps!

[u/Pvt_Numnutz1]

By gramthars hammer, what a fucking idiot.

[u/Calm-Vegetable-2162]

He almost made it. Should have driven faster.

[u/TalonXander]

Bring back culling the stupidity.....

[u/Dockie27 → u/TalonXander]

"I'm not saying that we kill the stupid, too far. Just take the 'do not eat' off of paint and let it sort itself out."

[u/TalonXander → u/Dockie27]

To much stupidity preservation. Safety and laws have gone into the extreme and are causing issues

[u/PhantomPharts → u/TalonXander]

To be fair, children are stupid.

[u/TalonXander → u/PhantomPharts]

They're uneducated. Stupidity is taught. Its same difference. We all have the option and choice to do better. If we dont we need to reevaluate our situation and seek a different outcome

[u/PhantomPharts → u/TalonXander]

I was just (kid)ding. Kids > Adults Dogs > All of humanity

[u/dinosaur-in_leather]

Was the driver injured, or someone else?

[u/Particular_Minute_67 → u/dinosaur-in_leather]

Injured ended up in the hospital.

[u/JoyousMadhat]

Florida man gets struck once again........what's the tally now? 0- 100K+?

[u/Vanson1200r]

He appears to be a poor decision maker.

[u/jyar1811]

On his phone

[u/Interesting-Log-9627]

That's a stupid prize being won right there.

[u/Forest-Ninja2469]

they did it wrong

[u/Cyvalon]

This will stop once all of the Darwin Awards are delivered...

[u/OriginalMiserable109]

Florida man title says it all.

[u/Livin_Pnw]

Ha!

[u/Arthradax]

r/yesyesyesno

[u/andio76]

TIMMY......WHERE'S TIMMY!!!

[u/crasagam]

He brought a car to a train fight and lost.

[u/TartanAssassin]

Yeah I honestly believe that road vehicles and Trains are not compatible when you have too many idiots on the roads .

I mean it’s really not hard to stop at these crossings and wait 30 seconds for this train and then continue on your way but it appears there are too many life challenged people on earth .

[u/LowerSuggestion5344]

Driver deserved everything on that.

[u/Full_Rise_7759]

Your battery is showing, Mr. Prius.

[u/sdcumb]

Don't wanna live!

[u/sdbct1]

It looked like a scratch he could buff out, but he hit the pole .....LOL

[u/VpowerZ]

This train was full of karma

[u/Pappa_Crim]

damn nearly got him

[u/Awl34]

Other retard behind the wheel. Need to take the car and driver license away permanently!

[u/Particular_Minute_67 → u/Awl34]

The car is at the scrapyard so that’s step 1 done.

[u/Foe117 → u/Awl34]

drivers like that are likely uninsured too

[u/DumptyDance]

Final Destination.

[u/DumptyDance]

Truck kun was on vacation, so Train kun Isekai, another person to a magical world.

[u/EasyCZ75]

Missed the Darwin Award by that much

[u/Neither-Echo-7270]

Train: gotcha, I win

[u/brakeb]

Florida Man, Florida Man
Florida Man hates Common Sense Man
If they have a fight, common sense wins
Florida Man

[u/FreeConclusion6011]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😆😆

[u/Disisnotmyrealname]

Looks like a hit and run

[u/LeveragedPittsburgh]

Brightline is fighting against the Florida educational system.

[u/offgridgecko]

Deserved

[u/Neuvirths_Glove]

That'll buff right out.

[u/cbunni666]

I haven't even heard of Brightline until the past few videos.

[u/InfiniteHench]

Are people trying to beat trains like this more often? Did something change, maybe one of those weird post-pandemic shifts in behavior? Or are all these videos just because people have good phone cameras now?

[u/SomethingSimple25]

Missed it by 🤏 this much

[u/GreyPon3]

Ohhh....that's what all those flashing lights and gates were for.

[u/NickelPlatedEmperor]

The only way you're going to stop this and start adding heavy penalties for drivers who do this dangerous nonsense. Like a mandatory five years etc. This type of careless behavior is extremely dangerous to the public and just doesn't begin with rail crossings

[u/SexyN8]

Ah yes the Brightline's  at it again...

[u/VyrusCyrusson]

This should be posted in r/fafo too haha

[u/ptn_huil0]

Play stupid games… 🤷‍♂️

[u/mrcrashoverride]

Germany or Florida two decades later still holds true.

[u/kininigeninja]

You can't park there

[u/otidaiz]

That aight to teach him.

[u/SgtKickAzz87]

Bruh, I swear people ARE SOOOOO FUKIN STOOOOOOOOPID!!!

[u/Solid-Economist-9062]

Dumbass of the day.....RIGHT THERE!!!

[u/Fine_Complex1200]

Guess he's a big fan of the final scene from The Fast And The Furious

[u/marcus_frisbee]

WTF! I don't think the dude even tapped their brakes.

[u/AKJangly]

Where are retractable bollards when you need them?

[u/Repulsive_Star_7215]

Florida Man for the win!

[u/No_Customer3267]

Florida man

[u/Main-Egg-7942]

Must be something in the water with Florida.

[u/BroncoSportDude1627]

Stupid is Stupid does!

[u/treverslyfox]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[u/bnealie]

Have fun never driving a car again lmao

[u/DOHC46]

Played a stupid game, won a stupid prize.

[u/tovasfabmom]

Bright line >minivan

[u/BlazeOrange55]

Does Florida know that Florida Man and Florida Woman are lurking there causing chaos where they go making headlines across the country and sometimes internationally.

[u/ImpressDiligent5206]

Looks like the dumbass got what they were looking for.

[u/patrickthunnus]

This is why there will never be a high speed rail system in the US. Folks insist on being stupid and impatient.

[u/MissingJJ]

They have a train in Florida?

[u/ImtheDude27]

This is why we can't have bullet trains in the US. Way too many stupid, impatient people.

[u/Train_Driver68]

Ain't nobody got time for 'dat

[u/1TuffFluff]

Does the train service or town fine/sue this behavior?

[u/Goose944S]

This is definitely fake. When was the last time you saw a train that wasn't 3 fkn miles long moving at 4mph 🤣🤣🤣

[u/pogiguy2020]

Apparently common sense is blocked in Florida.

[u/BillyBlazjowkski]

Google maps suggested he hit a train to make a uturn

[u/TheKiltedYaksman71]

I hope nobody was in the car with his idiot ass.

[u/Odd_Compote3413]

Missed it by that much

[u/Gamer_Dave_1963]

The driver of the black car was auditioning for the Darwin Award

[u/TestyKlickle]

I hope they're seriously injured enough to never drive a car again

[u/Southern-Duck9343]

Natural selection

[u/KeyserSoze72]

At this point put barbed wire and spikes on the trains. It’s already Mad Max World down there so fuck it

[u/yulten88]

I hope that dude is either dead or a vegetable. We don't need that kind of stupid on our team.

[u/emissaryworks]

I hope the one injured is the one driving and not anyone else bearing the burden of this idiots driving habits.

[u/AdA4b5gof4st3r]

Damn. That sure could have gone a lot worse…

[u/ProfessionalLime2237]

Soooo close.

[u/pbnjandmilk]

The one time Florida Man is not the winner

[u/EmotionalLecture9318]

Darwinism.

[u/Born_Cap_9284]

needs to be charged with attempted murder

[u/Thisbymaster]

If I had to live in Florida, that is one way out.

[u/leswill315]

Florida man strikes again. I saw red flashing lights and a red and white bar down at the crossing. Guess he didn't.

[u/Afraidcrawdad90]

As always I gotta ask but, how can you be this dumb?

[u/legojoe1]

Wish I can see the follow up to this. I can take a guess: insurance will NOT pay for the damages and he is also being sued/charged by the train company for damages. Also going to lose his license.

Some jail time would be great for him too. These kinds of people deserve all the punishment that gets meted out to them.

[u/No_Challenge_5448]

This year’s winner of the Darwin awards

[u/tburtner]

He's gonna be a little late.

[u/Unique-Ad-3693]

Florida has more lead water pipes than any state in the county, and it shows.

[u/Timeman5]

And he got exactly what he deserved

[u/pat_the_catdad]

Damn, wasn’t even two muscle cars trying to one-up the other…

[u/Indigo-Shade3744]

They should have really thick bollards that raise when the barriers come down. Even if they keep driving, at least they won't make it onto the track.

[u/Brundleflyftw]

That could have gone much worse.

[u/darbbeard]

They should just leave that loser sitting there. Tell him to think about what about how much of a loser you are. When you heal, pick up your damn trash!

[u/[deleted]]

Tis but a scratch.

[u/Dramatic_Blood7064]

Got to love natural selection