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Crossing gates down for under a minute for Brightline; city leaders urge not to try to beat train

Posted at 4:20 PM, Jan 29, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-29 19:03:09-05

City leaders continue to urge people not to try to beat Brightline trains. Videos have surfaced from fatal incidents where a bicyclist in Boynton Beach crossed the tracks with the guard gates down and was hit and killed by the train.

Another video shows a driver going around the gate, risking injury or death, while a Brightline train is approaching.

"Brightline is new and people aren't familiar with it. Secondary it's very fast," said West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio. 

Mayor Muoio launched a safety and awareness campaign after two people were killed trying to beat a Brightline train during its first week of service. 

"We had too many times when the arms went down and there was no train, people have sort of got a little lax thinking 'there's probably not a train coming, the arms have gone down in the past,'" said the mayor. 

But we timed it for you.

From the moment the gates were down at a Lake Worth crossing, it took about 20 seconds for the high-speed Brightline train to come through. About nine seconds after the train horn blew, the train was at the crossing, and it only took 6 seconds for it cross.

The total wait time is less than a minute. That's less time than waiting at a red light; we checked. 

"You may have been able to outrun a Tri-Rail train, you can't outrun a Brightline train," added Mayor Muoio.