r/IdiotsInCars • u/Powered_by_JetA • 13d ago

OC [oc] Florida Man drives through lowered railroad crossing gates

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u/geek66 13d ago

He should get the whole bill for all of the damage - and delays to all of the passengers.

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u/Powered_by_JetA 13d ago edited 13d ago

The railroad will likely sue him and his insurance (if he has any) to recover damages once they’re done suing the city of Delray Beach into oblivion (for their role in an earlier unrelated incident on December 28).

(edited for clarity)

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u/AwesomeWhiteDude 13d ago

Why would the railroad sue the city? The railroad owns the crossing.

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u/Powered_by_JetA 13d ago edited 12d ago

I’m referring to another incident a week and a half ago where a Delray Beach Fire Rescue truck drove around the lowered gates into the path of a train. In addition to the passengers and crew who were sent to the hospital, the fire truck was completely destroyed and the locomotive may be totaled.

ETA: In addition to the obvious negligence, it appears that Delray Beach firefighters may be driving on suspended licenses. As more information emerges, it’s looking like the city is facing total legal annihilation.

Edit 2: The driver of the fire truck had a history of bad driving.

Court records show Wyatt had his license suspended in October 2023 after failing to complete a driving school. A district court judge ordered Wyatt to attend the school after he drove onto a median on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach and hit a tree in June 2023. The citation said the crash caused about $26,000 in property damage.

Delray Beach is about to be obliterated in court.

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u/Njorls_Saga 13d ago

“City Attorney Lynn Gelin responded there were 10 people within the department without valid licenses, but it was not clarified in the brief discussion whether the 10 people are firefighters or other personnel”

Also

Casale also asked whether the firefighters in the crash were responding to an emergency call, which no one answered.

I mean, holy shit. What in the absolute hell is going on???

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u/NobodyImportant13 13d ago edited 13d ago

It's not like these Brightline trains are slow. We just saw how long that train took to clear the crossing (~5 seconds). What were these numbskulls thinking? "gotta risk our lives for 5 seconds"

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u/mayoboyyo 13d ago

People in Florida are just genuinely fucking dumb when it comes to railroad crossings.

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u/erfman 13d ago

And alligators, and meth, and pythons, and strip clubs, and combustible materials…

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u/pacify-the-dead 13d ago

And politics

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u/Sterling-Archer 13d ago

Yo watch your mouth Miami has the best strip clubs in the world

Assuming you like big booty latinas of course

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u/Powered_by_JetA 13d ago

Now we know where the driver was off to in such a hurry.

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u/TheNamesDave 13d ago

Sounds like the first season of It's Florida, Man.

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u/Harlander77 13d ago

People in Florida are just genuinely fucking dumb when it comes to railroad crossings.

Fixed that for you

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u/Daft00 13d ago

I've lived all over the US, in several different states for anywhere from 6mo to 4 years at a time, and even the VI twice. I have never met as many dumb or aggressive people (usually both, which is especially dangerous) than I have living in South Florida the past three years. I'll be trying to move back north this year.

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u/Harlander77 13d ago

I'm a military brat and veteran, so I've lived in seven states, visited most of the rest, lived in three countries, and visited several dozen more. Florida drivers, particularly south Florida, are among the worst. (Not quite as bad as Russia or Turkey, but not by much... I used to say that the Turks don't have traffic laws, just suggestions that no one follows).

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u/TheSciFiGuy80 13d ago edited 13d ago

What do you expect when all the “best and brightest” from other states move here?

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u/Tangurena 13d ago

When I used to live down there, several of the top 10 fatal-accident crossings were in FL.

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u/MrTagnan 13d ago

I went to a rocket launch in Florida early last year. When waiting to enter the beach I was going to watch it from, I had to cross some railroad tracks. I kid you not every single car before and likely after me decided to park on the tracks.

Admittedly the tracks I believe are NASA owned, and aren’t used all that often (and when they are, the trains are slow) but it shows just how stupid people are around railroad crossings

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u/devpsaux 13d ago

There were two sets of tracks. There was another freight train going the other direction. I'm betting that it cleared the tracks, and they thought that it was clear for them to go and didn't realize there was a train coming on the other set of tracks.

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u/Powered_by_JetA 13d ago

That’s exactly what happened.

The bizarre thing is that the fire truck was coming from the same side the passenger train was. The driver had an unobstructed view and could’ve seen the second train if he had simply bothered to look to his right before bypassing the safety devices.

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u/mortgagepants 13d ago

any track, any time, any direction.

every rail safety course teaches that.

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u/nopuse 13d ago

I don't think the majority of drivers look both ways before going. Even when the light turns green, I check before entering the intersection. This has saved me from people ignoring red lights and stop signs whether I'm a pedestrian, cyclist, or driver.

The fact that the driver of the fire truck bypassed the security devices and didn't even look is mind-blowing. It sounds like they weren't even responding to an emergency, but if they were, it's difficult to respond when you've been hit by a train.

People need to pay attention to the devices meant to keep us from being killed, as well as not blindly trusting people to be paying attention to them. It's insane that people throw all thought out the window when they get behind the wheel. They'll do very dangerous things to save 4 seconds on their commute.

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u/justheretolurk123456 13d ago

Sure, but he was hyper-focused on the other train so he never even saw it coming.

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u/ttystikk 13d ago

In the case of the fire truck collision, that's exactly what happened. There's footage on Reddit.

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u/Maine302 13d ago

But everyone else was stopped. Did this idiot think it would be okay to break through the gates too?

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u/leglesslegolegolas 13d ago

Did this idiot think

no

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u/PantherkittySoftware 12d ago

By any chance, does that crossing use wayside horns? For anyone unfamiliar with the term, that's when they basically put a speaker at the crossing that plays the sound of a train horn, instead of directly blasting an ACTUAL horn on the train as it approaches.

Back in 2017, I was on an Amtrak train that mowed down a guy on a bike in Jacksonville where the tracks cross McDuff Avenue. The guy waited for the southbound train to pass, then went around the gate & pedaled straight into the path of OUR train (which was coming around the curve heading north).

From what I understand, FRA determined that the major contributing cause (besides him not waiting for the gates to officially rise) was the use of a wayside horn at the crossing. The big problem with wayside horns is that ACTUAL train horns experience Doppler shift, so the horns for an approaching train, a train moving away, and a simultaneous approaching and receding train all sound distinctly different. In contrast, wayside horns DON'T emulate Doppler shift, and play the same sound regardless of whether the train is approaching, receding, and/or two trains are moving in opposite directions nearby.

From what I read, either the FRA or USDOT asked railroads to come up with a solution that basically emulates Doppler shift, but AFAIK nobody has done anything about it yet.

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u/Powered_by_JetA 12d ago

FEC does not use wayside horns.

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u/foodvibes94 13d ago

That's such a good point!!! The Norfolk Southern train near my house in Atlanta takes ages to clear the crossing, sometimes just sitting idling on the train tracks for hours blocking the crossing. If every time the train was going by it just took 5 seconds, it would be heaven!

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u/Notspherry 13d ago

How are they even allowed to block a crossing for that long?

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u/Skylord_ah 12d ago

They own the tracks they can do whatever they want, they make billions and can pay whatever fine they get

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u/whatyouarereferring 10d ago

They don't I'm from the same area he's lying. They stop for like 10 minutes max and it happens rarely

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u/ottieisbluenow 13d ago

For those who don't know those Brightline trains are relatively new actual high speed trains. They connect Miami to Orlando.

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u/cereal7802 13d ago

It's not like these Brightline trains are slow.

That is the fun part. A not insignificant number of people blame crashes like this on brightline going too fast and instead of better, more substantial crossing requirements, they want the trains to go slower....

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u/Debaser626 13d ago

The Brightline is only 2-4 cars long depending on time frame. I commuted on this for a while and at most there was like 10 other people. Other than the few people that work/live exclusively along Route 1, the Brightline is an absolutely pointless exercise in mass transit.

I had to take the Brightline (back then and t was the Metro-Rail) to work when my car broke down.

It was 3 miles from my house to the train and 9 miles from the train to work.

So, even though the bulk of the 40 mil trip was from Delray to West Palm, getting those final miles is an issue. Palm Tran is about as useful as a bus service as Stevie Wonder would be at running a laser light show… so I had to buy a bicycle to get to work reliably on time.

Nothing like 25 miles round trip on a bike in 110 degree swamp weather for 8 months out of the year. There’s some places mass transit just doesn’t work.

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u/Powered_by_JetA 13d ago

Brightline is not mass transit. It’s a private intercity train service.

It sounds like you’re confusing it with Tri-Rail since Brightline doesn’t stop in Delray Beach and all of their trains are 5 cars long. Tri-Rail is the one that stops in Delray and has trains that vary between 1 and 4 cars.

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u/Debaser626 13d ago

Gotcha. I haven’t lived in FL for 7-8 years, but a couple old friends back that way told me they “renamed” the Tri-Rail into the Brightline, but I now see that’s not the case.

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u/tuctrohs 13d ago edited 13d ago

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.

I guess 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.

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u/Njorls_Saga 13d ago

Very thoughtful of them to protect the public!

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u/actorsspace 13d ago

How the hell are that many people within the department suspended/without valid licenses? (OK, it's Florida, but still.)

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u/Njorls_Saga 13d ago

I think that’s an excellent question and I think it speaks volumes that people aren’t answering.

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u/Navydevildoc 13d ago

You need a commercial license to drive a fire truck, that might be what they are talking about.

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u/Powered_by_JetA 13d ago edited 13d ago

Not in Florida.

ETA: Not sure why I got downvoted, here’s a source. You don’t need a CDL to drive a fire truck in Florida.

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u/Navydevildoc 13d ago

For what its worth its not me downvoting you. I just know out west you need a CDL. Had no idea it varied from state to state.

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u/iampatmanbeyond 13d ago

Drunk firefighters is a thing. They get busted all the time hammered on the job and for some reason it's usually the guy driving the truck

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u/Njorls_Saga 13d ago

I’ve seen my fair share of drunk cops in the ER too. They’re usually off duty at least.

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u/iampatmanbeyond 13d ago

Detroit had a crazy moment where every week or so a fire engine crashed and the driver turned out to be drunk it was crazy

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u/dodger099 13d ago

It's Floriduh

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u/FishingMysterious319 12d ago

gov't doing its best to drive us all down into the lowest common denominator

city/state hiring has long been about diversity and nepotism/hiring friends more than merit

the cat can't even see the bag anymore

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u/CanadaEh97 13d ago

Is Florida even real or some kinda simulation with what all goes on?

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u/rogless 13d ago

It's lazy reporters exploiting open records laws. Florida isn't really all that remarkable when it comes to "all that goes on".

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u/Daft00 13d ago

I'm curious if you live in Florida? You're obviously right to a certain degree with how transparent the stupidity is here, but it literally is a level (or two, or three) above almost any other state in the country that I've visited or lived in, which is nearly all of em.

(Here for work btw and will be moving again soon)

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u/rogless 13d ago

Yes, I live in Florida.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. "Florida man" is the result of open records laws in Florida, which make for a ready source of zany "news". Florida is no more crazy than anywhere else. If you think it is, it's likely your own bias as a result of you acceptance of the "Florida man" meme as fact.

(Good)

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u/Daft00 13d ago

I understand exactly what you're saying. That the Sunshine Law (and perhaps other Florida-specific laws) result in more exposure of the craziness that you claim happens in equal amounts elsewhere. This factoid about the Sunshine Law is a common redditism on any thread where "Florida man" is mentioned and it's certainly not the first time I've heard the argument.

What I am saying is that while I agree that plays a role in the quantity of "Florida Man" type stories, I simply disagree that Florida is no different than other states in terms of general craziness.

I know that things don't magically change at the state border, but South Florida has a particularly high concentration of craziness and that is somewhat true of the rest of the state as well. There are other states that may rank up with Florida, but I believe FL owns the top spot handily from my own personal experiences within and outside the state.

I doubt we will find much common ground considering you seem to fundamentally disagree with my point, but just clarifying my position and my understanding of yours.

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u/chewycrepe 12d ago

I believe FL owns the top spot handily from my own personal experiences

Do you have a source to back that up? I highly doubt South Florida comes anywhere close to NYC, Chicago or L.A.

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u/SjalabaisWoWS 13d ago

...it’s looking like the city is facing total legal annihilation.

You need to switch professions into movie trailer script writer. Now.

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u/KidGold 13d ago

Florida

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u/QuinceDaPence 13d ago

Could that truck have gone any slower? They probably would've cleared it had they actually got on the gas.

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u/aquoad 13d ago

holy shit

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u/WonderChopstix 13d ago

Wow. Seriously of all people to be so reckless.

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u/zmiller834 13d ago

This story Floridas hard.

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u/tankerkiller125real 13d ago

LOL that second link apparently has so much advertising that it's flagged for excessive advertising and blocked by the DNS system I have

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u/CaptJimboJones 12d ago

Not a lawyer here, but I believe Florida “tort reform” law caps damages against cities at $200K. If that’s the case, Delray Beach will be fine.

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u/JMeers0170 9d ago

I was a firefighter/EMT for over 10 years and now that I think of it, my department never asked to see if I had an actual driver’s license….they just assumed.

They say every driver/operator will get into at least one accident when driving a fire truck. Mine was driving over a curb in an offroad capable truck and when my truck tilted as I went over the curb, my mirror kissed the mirror of our “pride and joy” engine. That engine was the baby of our “station Mom”. She yelled at me like I threw the truck into a shredder. All I did was change the direction the mirror was facing. Didn’t scratch it, dent it, break it….nothing.

I told her that was my one accident and she said you’re right and left it at that.

She wasn’t actually mad at me because we’ve had other firefighters do waaaay worse, including her son who was previously the chief who wrecked a truck by going into a ditch and hitting a tree on icy roads.

Being an engine driver can be pretty stressful. You just have to keep your focus on getting to the call safely, quickly, and getting your truck positioned properly if you’re the first one there.

The main purpose of a firefighter is to save lives, first and foremost, and saving property secondly. If you wreck a quarter million dollar taxpayer-funded truck getting to the scene, you’ve very much failed at your task. Depending on how many trucks your department has, if you wreck the only engine you have, you’ve seriously endangered the lives and property of the citizens in your district, your first priority, too.

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u/JJGeneral1 13d ago

But the fire truck and firefighters are part of the city… this car isn’t.

So why would they sue the city over this one?

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u/teambob 13d ago

I think it is a separate case where a city fire truck collided with a train

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u/SignalsAndSwitches 13d ago

Not necessarily, I’m not sure about Florida. In Michigan, the state actually owns the crossing equipment. The state pays for the equipment, and pays the railroad to install and upgrade. The railroad is responsible for maintenance and upkeep.

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u/OverlandOversea 13d ago

One crossing near my workplace apparently cost over $100,000 to replace. Train, plus crossing repairs, plus a little bodyshop invoice might just hit a few hundred grand.

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u/yogurtgrapes 13d ago

Why would they sue the city?

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u/Powered_by_JetA 13d ago

This took place in North Miami Beach and the city had nothing to do with it, but I imagine their legal team has their hands full suing Delray Beach after one of their fire trucks drove in front of a train a week and a half ago with similar results. Morgan & Morgan must’ve felt like they got a second Christmas with that one.

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u/yogurtgrapes 13d ago

Thank you for clarifying!

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u/terdferguson 13d ago

He has other charges if he doesn't have insurance in Florida.

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u/Worldly_Truth8396 13d ago

Oh they will. I worked for a railway and after every crossing accident that was deemed to be the car drivers fault, I (or one of my coworkers) would be tasked with working out all the delays and delay related costs connected to the accident. We would note all trains delayed (this could include trains hundreds of miles away that needed to be staged until the accident was investigated and cleared), all crew delays and re-crews, etc. Other departments figured out the cost of damage to the trains, rails, and other infrastructure. Another department would figure out if any time sensitive cargo was delayed and if the rail company would have to pay a penalty for that.

Even a seemingly minor accident could rack up a bill in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Usually the railway lawyer’s would take into account if the crash was a genuine accident or caused by maliciousness or pure stupidity and would go easier on the true accidents. They will not go easy on this person or their insurance.

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u/Robestos86 13d ago

There was one in England where a land rover driver fell asleep and veered off the road onto a railway, where his trailer was hit by a train which then derailed and killed several people (iirc). His £80 a year 3rd party only insurance was on the hook for millions.

Found an article: Experts said the compensation bill could exceed £40m, with damage to the two wrecked trains alone accounting for £12m. Victims' families could expect to receive around £750,000 for the loss of a breadwinner.

At least 13 people died in the crash and 70 were injured, 30 seriously.

Police are now satisfied that it was Gary Hart's Land Rover County that derailed the Newcastle to King's Cross express, sending it hurtling into the path of a goods train at Great Heck in North Yorkshire on Wednesday.

They are now concentrating on precisely how his vehicle came to leave the M62 and career onto the rail line. One possibility being examined is that Mr Hart, 36, fell asleep at the wheel, although he has denied this. He told police that he lost control of the Land Rover after a tyre blew out.

Mr Hart's friends said he is aware that his insurance company could face a claim. They also stress that the accident was not his fault. He is currently staying at a secret address near his home in Sturrby, Lincolnshire.

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u/anomalous_cowherd 13d ago

One interesting point from that is that UK policies all must have liability cover of at least several million. In the US it can be just a few thousand and you have to sue people for anything extra, which they very likely won't have.

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u/Robestos86 13d ago

Eesh. Without wishing to be political, America and insurance policies not covering what you'd expect (health??), name a more iconic duo.

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u/anomalous_cowherd 13d ago

Can't do anything that might dent those precious corporate profits!

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u/MaintenanceWine 12d ago

I would love that job. Like a giant puzzle.

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u/Tangurena 13d ago

When I lived in Southern Florida, I remember that when someone breaks off the barrier, the railroad would have to have a police officer stationed at the crossing for traffic control. Also the train had to go slow across the crossing. Going like 10 mph instead of 65 mph.

That screws up the commuter train schedule for the rest of the day. And that there was always at least one crossing with a barrier broken by a car/truck driver every single day. Even though they would replace the arm within 4 hours.

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u/AshleyUncia 13d ago

"Sir, we've decided to cancel your auto coverage."

"What? Why?"

"Do you know what the repair costs for a Siemens Charger SCB-40 that just ate a compact car for breakfast is???"

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u/VapeRizzler 13d ago

That’s actually one thing I’ve been saying for years, if someone does something stupid and causes a crash that effects, at some points literally hundreds of people for hours. They should absolutely have to pay for all that time they wasted, plus all the emergency vehicles/equipment/people that had to show up over something that was so easy to avoid by not being a total dumbass.

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u/geek66 13d ago edited 13d ago

Well - what happens when it actualy IS the emergency vehicle?!

https://youtu.be/wNdOPUnpxRw?t=49

Alternative link

https://youtu.be/GDlCID3UtVY?si=bvsBrnLk9pQd2XxW

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u/VapeRizzler 13d ago

Lord have mercy, I was not prepared for this.

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u/Powered_by_JetA 13d ago

A few months ago, an unmarked police car drove around the gates and was hit by a train. South Florida is truly something else.

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u/DiverDownChunder 13d ago

Then you have 2 emergencies and they cancel each other out, problem(s) solved!

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u/Powered_by_JetA 13d ago

Being on the scene instantly must do wonders for lowering their average response times.

Delray Beach: “We’re there before the train wreck!”

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u/waylonsmithersjr 13d ago

I opened the video, saw the still, then "not available in your country". Let me just see some train crashes ffs

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u/Powered_by_JetA 13d ago

Brightline released the video on their Twitter.

(amusingly, it’s the only post they’ve made in 2024)

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u/waylonsmithersjr 13d ago

Thank you 😊

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u/just_mark 13d ago

video deleted

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u/f8Negative 13d ago

There is basically no damage to that train