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.
"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.
