Florida personal injury attorneys know the devastating death and injury that can result from train accidents. Florida ranks number three in the country in railroad grade crossing accident deaths. The state’s deadliest rail operation is the Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway.
USA Today reports that there have been at least 76 deaths since 2015 by freight trains and Brightline passenger trains on the FEC tracks, which run between Miami and Jacksonville.
Most recently, a man was critically injured after being hit by a Brightline train in Broward County. Another Florida train accident occurred when a freight train hit a refrigerated Publix grocery tractor trailer. Fortunately, the accident injured no one and the only thing to cry over was the thousands of gallons of spilled milk.
Florida Personal Injury Attorney Cites High-Risk Train Cargo
Now, those same rail tracks that have proven so dangerous have begun transporting extraordinarily dangerous cargo. According to a report in the Miami Herald, FEC has quietly begun to haul liquid natural gas (LNG) through some of Florida’s most populated neighborhoods. This has safety advocates alarmed.
“The disaster risk with LNG is considered a high-risk situation that has never been allowed to happen until now,” chemical disaster expert Fred Millar told the Herald. “People are being kept in the dark about this enormous risk. A vapor cloud could travel a couple of miles and someone starts their car and the whole place blows up. Some people will die before they can get out.”
The situation raises questions of corporate ethics and practice of putting profits before public safety.
1. The Train Wreck: When Safety is Discretionary – Let’s have a little chat about corporate ethics, shall we? pic.twitter.com/8ALPtoYtrQ
— Ed Barnard (@ewbarnard) August 27, 2018
We can’t always rely on regulators to prevent transportation accidents. The fact that a Florida personal injury attorney filed a lawsuit has likely prevented accidents. People generally see personal injury lawsuits as helping accident victims recover losses. But “litigation can serve as a powerful tool for prevention as well,” according to a Johns Hopkins study. “It has long been argued that transferring the cost of injuries through litigation, from the damaged person to the person or corporation who could have but did not prevent the injury, creates a motivation to invest in prevention rather than to pay the penalty of neglect.”
When you Need a Florida Personal Injury Attorney
If corporate negligence has harmed you or a loved one, you’ll want the best Florida personal injury attorney you can get. Consider the Orlando car accident attorneys at Martinez Manglardi. We’ve been helping people in Central Florida recover losses from all kinds of accidents for more than 30 years. Call 407-846-2240 for a free consultation in one of our convenient locations.
