It’s safe to say that people aren’t happy that Brightline trains have struck and killed over 190 people since 2017. Attendants at a small-town Christmas parade in South Florida were shocked to see a float making fun of the startup intercity railroad. The signage draped alongside the float read, “Grandma got run over by a Brightline.” And yes, the train-themed float did win a pair of awards at the VNA Stuart Christmas Parade: the Judges Choice Award and the Large Float Classic Christmas Award.
The light-covered locomotive might be the float’s focus. There are plenty of other elements that only add to the hilarity. Behind the train, two people were sitting on lawn chairs behind railroad crossing barriers. At the front of the float, people were holding signs reading “trains may exceed 80 mph.” Despite the praise from judges, WPEC reported that some people found the float to be offensive because of the train’s fatal incidents. The float was created by the Philip DeBerard Family Foundation, a community non-profit honoring the memory of a local personal injury attorney. His son Philip DeBerard IV said in a release:
“We wanted to create something fun, memorable, and unmistakably Florida. The response has been overwhelming. Seeing our float make people laugh while also raising awareness around train safety has been incredibly rewarding.”
While the Brightline-ribbed float did face off against bland Santa’s sleighs and rolling Nativity scenes, there were a few stiff contenders. There was a Chick-fil-A-sponsored float featuring a massive inflatable cow with foam-spraying udders. A ReMax-backed float leaned into a hot air balloon theme based on the company’s logo and starred a big burner that lit up the night more than any string of lights could.
Brightline is just rolling past Stuart for now
Stuart, Florida is along the Brightline’s route on the high-speed stretch between West Palm Beach and Orlando, but it’s nowhere near a station. It’s roughly a 40-mile drive from the West Palm Beach station. The town of roughly 17,500 people was slated to receive a station in 2026 as part of a significant expansion, but the county government now has to reapply for federal grant money, WPTV reports. The privately-owned railroad now won’t stop in Stuart until 2028 at the earliest.
DeBerard didn’t do anything illegal or morally reprehensible with his float. If onlookers were offended, they only have Brightline to blame. According to WLRN, the company’s trains have struck and killed 194 people since testing began in 2017. The leading cause of these deaths is the lack of grade separation and fencing separating the public from live tracks. For a stark comparison, there have been zero deaths on the stretch of track between West Palm Beach and Orlando. The segment was required to be grade separated because of the higher 125-mile-per-hour speed limit.
