The Brightline is a high-speed railway system that connects Central and South Florida. What would take three to four hours in a car ride would take only an hour on the Brightline. According to the Tri-Rail Commuter Service, the national amount of fatalities is 1 for every 100, 000 miles. The Brightline's average is 1 every 29,000 miles. That is about one or more deaths a month. It is important to note that many of the deaths are a result of suicides or reckless behavior. The problem that arises is the lack of regard for suicide prevention and reckless behavior. There are several plausible solutions to this problem.
One inadvertent cause is the issue of reckless behavior. Reckless behavior in this sense is a fatality that is the result of a person ( a driver, cyclist, or a runner) tries to beat the train. A solution that came to mind is the patrol of intersections between streets and railroads. This would prevent people from attempting this type of behavior. More specifically, I would propose patrol shifts of these areas and the placement of cameras to document and fine people that attempt this behavior. It is important not to forget the neglect of Brightline, as a company. Their efforts seem to be geared towards the $4 billion expansion of the railway from West Palm Beach to Orlando, rather than improving upon the safety of their current railroads. Why does is this expansion valued more than public safety?
What needs to be put in place is a mandate that creates barriers and fencing for intersections. This would work by allocating a portion of Florida's budget for infrastructure to create the protective fencing. I acknowledge that this may lead to tax increases but the safety of Floridians should be more important than potential costs.
Florida's Brightline Railroad Is Nation's Deadliest After High Rate Of Track Deaths
Brightline high-speed train has the highest U.S. death rate
The collision between Brightline train and car
Alexa,
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar with the Brightline rail system, so this was a very interesting read! I think this is a great topic- I love the specificity of it and proposing a solution for a problem as dire as this seems very plausible. My only suggestions pertain to the framing of the causes of the issue. Framing reckless behaviors as an inadvertent cause seems a little illogical to me. Rather, I would explain that the issues that have risen from the Brightline rail system are of inadvertent cause because they were unintentional. Reckless and suicidal behaviors are examples of issues that have resulted from the Brightline rail system, not causes of the issues themselves. I hope this makes sense and is helpful to you as you compose your policy brief!
I think the local focus of this issue makes it both interesting and manageable. I’ve never heard of the Brightline Rail system, but as with many issues, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a problem, and since problems are often overlooked by larger institutions that could help for this reason (they simply don’t know it exists) I think your paper will be a great way to call attention to this. However, I think your problem needs to be framed a little bit better. Reading this post, it took me a little bit to figure out what the problem you were discussing would actually be, so maybe find a way to distill the issue into a sentence or two that makes it really clear and can be delivered in your opening.
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