Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Police: driver in critical condition after crash with Brightline train
A man driving a Jeep was hospitalized in critical condition after witnesses said he maneuvered around crossing gates and tried to beat a Brightline train across the tracks, Hollywood police said.
The driver attempted to head east on Garfield Street across the train tracks while the Brightline train was traveling south parallel to Dixie Highway about 1 p.m., said Officer Christian Lata, a spokesperson for Hollywood Police. Witnesses told officers he drove around the lowered safety gates, Lata said.
The driver, whose name has not been released, was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital. No passengers on the train were injured.
A Brightline spokesperson confirmed in an email Tuesday that the safety gates were down, “signaling an oncoming train when the individual drove around the gate” and emphasized motorists should never drive around gates or try to beat an oncoming train.
“These are active railroad tracks with trains approaching in both directions,” the email said.
A similar crash Monday morning in Pompano Beach killed a man after he drove around the crossing gates at North Dixie Highway and Northwest Sixth Street, rendering his silver pickup truck nearly unrecognizable. His death is believed to be at least the 58th to involve a Brightline train.
Brightline, the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida East Coast Railway in a recent grant application to the U.S. Department of Transportation have said they aim to build “supplemental safety measures at 328 roadway railroad grade crossings” and add pedestrian protection measures.
They are seeking $25 million to supplement $20 million of funding from the railroads and the state for the project, called the Florida East Coast Corridor Trespassing and Intrusion Mitigation Project.