I don't care that the Brightline trains will not stop in Martin County. Even if they stopped here I wouldn't ride them, and I don't think many people in the counties to our south will ride them all the way to Orlando, either.
I think Brightline will fail financially and become the subject of yet another taxpayer bailout.
Nonetheless, it's unfair to blame the Brightline trains for the four fatalities reported in the Jan. 21 TCPalm article, "We feared danger from Brightline, but this?"
The Sun-Sentinel Newspaper reported that 23 people died in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties from January to September last year in incidents involving Tri-Rail, CSX, Florida East Coast, and Amtrak trains. In December 2009 there were three suicides on the tracks in Broward and Palm Beach counties within 10 days.
Congressman Brian Mast proposes shutting down the Brightline trains until all the safety issues are resolved. How can he ignore the facts that the Brightline accidents were not caused by the trains, but by people who refuse to obey the right of way rules?
Trains always have the right of way. Motor vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians must always yield to the trains.
Many automobile accidents on the interstate are caused by people exceeding the speed limit. That’s not the interstate's fault; it's the fault of the people who refuse to obey the law.
Perhaps the congressman should also propose shutting down I-95 until all of the speeding issues are resolved.
Karl Saal, Stuart