Two dead in Brightline train crash after driver tries to get past railroad gates, cops say
Two people died after a Brightline train collided with their Toyota near Hallandale Beach and Aventura early Thursday morning, Aventura Police Chief Michael Bentolila said.
Around 6 a.m., they were trying to cross the railroad tracks while the safety gates were down on East Dixie Highway near Northeast 215th Street, Bentolila said in an afternoon statement.
Surveillance video obtained by the Miami Herald shows the collision, which left the blue car heavily damaged. TV footage showed the mangled car on the shoulder of the road in the grass, with a stopped Brightline train nearby. A tarp covered part of the car, which usually indicates a fatality.
The identities of the two killed were not released by police as next of kin have not yet been notified.
Police blocked off parts of the road and asked drivers to avoid the area during the morning rush hour.
“This was a tragic event and the direct result of an individual driving around the gates which were down, flashing and bells ringing, signaling an approaching train,” said a Brightline spokesman in an email to the Miami Herald.
Brightline said no one on the train was injured.
This is the latest collision involving one of Brightline’s high-speed trains in South Florida since it resumed service in November after a 19-month pandemic hiatus:
▪ On Dec. 11, a pedestrian was killed after being struck by a Brightline train in Hollywood. Police determined it was suicide.
▪ On Dec. 7, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a Brightline train in North Miami Beach.
▪ On Nov. 23, a Brightline train struck a golf cart in Dania Beach. The golf cart’s driver was not in the vehicle at the time of the crash.
▪ And on Nov. 8, Brightline’s first day of service after the pandemic pause, one of its trains, which had Brightline President Patrick Goddard on board, struck a car in Pompano Beach. The people inside the car, a 71-year-old grandmother with her 1-year-old granddaughter, were taken to the hospital. The woman had non-life-threatening injuries and the toddler was alert and conscious when paramedics arrived.
As a reminder, drivers should never drive around the gates or ignore the flashing lights at railroad crossings. These are signs that a train is nearing the crossing and you should never try to beat the train, especially a Brightline. It’s a high speed train servicing West Palm Beach to Miami that travels at 79 mph.
In December 2019, The Associated Press reported that Brightline trains ranked as the rail service with the highest U.S. death rate on its tracks, with at least 40 fatalities. None of the deaths were caused by crew error or faulty equipment, and a majority appear to have been suicides, the AP reported.
Omar Rodríguez Ortiz contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 7:59 AM.
