MELBOURNE, Fla. – Cameras were installed Wednesday at a rail crossing in Melbourne where two fatal crashes involving Brightline trains occurred within days of each other earlier this month.
Contractors were seen installing the cameras in the area of South Harbor City Boulevard and W.H. Jackson Street., according to News 6 reporter James Sparvero who noticed workers were installing the camera.
That’s where one person was killed on Jan. 10 when the SUV they were driving collided with a Brightline Train. Then, on Jan. 12, two people were killed when a Brightline train collided with their vehicle at the same intersection.
BREAKING: @GoBrightline just installed a camera at the crossing where two cars crashed into trains this month killing three people. (Last week, poles were put in to deter drivers from going around the crossing arms https://t.co/QA4hgkCkNR)
— James Sparvero (@JamesSparvero) January 31, 2024
My new story is on @news6wkmg at 5 and 7 pic.twitter.com/jSmQkuwA3I
The cameras are part of a series of safety measures the city of Melbourne and Brightline said they will be taking to prevent drivers from crossing the tracks when a train is coming to try to beat the train.
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Safety poles were installed last week at the same rail crossing. Melbourne’s mayor said the city was working on grants to fund quad gates that would block the intersections at this and other rail crossings in Melbourne and beyond.
Melbourne’s mayor has said red-light cameras will be temporary and will help identify drivers that go around crossings.
Mayor Paul Alfrey previously talked to reporters about long-term safety measures Brightline and the city want to place at crossings.
“Also doing quad gates and not only quad gates for Melbourne, but we’re looking at Brevard County and even going south,” Alfrey said.
Thirty miles south in Indian River County is where Monday authorities said a man died while walking on the tracks as a Brightline train passed.
The same day Mayor Alfrey talked about a goal of installing gates with crossing arms that block both sides of the road, Brightline and railway safety advocates handed out safety brochures.
Gregg Stoll of the Florida East Coast Railway Society said he hoped he was helping to save lives.
“I’m here because it hurts,” Stoll said. “It’s tragic. It really is. Maybe, we can make a difference.”
The men setting up the camera Wednesday said it should be on and working by Friday.
Brightline said because it doesn’t have the authority to ticket drivers who cross illegally so while they will get a letter in the mail, they won’t have to pay a fine. They will, however, get a warning in the mail, and their information will be shared with law enforcement.
Brightline has been running trains continuously through Brevard County since opening its line between South Florida and Orlando International Airport last September.
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