Two 23-Year-Olds Die in Wellington Wrecks

Categories: Transportation
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UPDATE, 3:41 p.m.: The original post had incorrect information about the first crash. It's been fixed, and comment from the PBSO has been added.

Two 23-year-old men were killed in Wellington less than 12 hours apart, according to police.

The first happened at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday -- James Duemig was driving westbound "at a high rate of speed" on Wellington Trace on a Suzuki GSXR motorcycle when 18-year-old Emily Berns attempted to turn left onto Wellington Trace, pulling in front of Duemig, according to police. Duemig, less than two miles from home, smashed into the driver's side of Berns' 2001 Nissan Maxima, flew off the bike, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
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FEC Train Operator Plans New Privatized Rail Service Between South Florida and Orlando

Categories: Transportation
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FECI
Click to enlarge
It is, of course, essential Rick Scott lore that our budget-cutting governor nixed a federally funded high-speed rail project because it used too much taxpayer money. As little sense as that move made, the governor has always been clear that he favors private enterprise over the government providing... well, anything.

So Scott might have no choice but to accept the news that Florida East Coast Industries, the company that runs the FEC freight railway along our coast, has announced plans to open a privately funded passenger rail service by 2014.
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Google Glasses Show Why It's Too Late to Ban Texting and Driving

Categories: Transportation
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By the end of the year, Google is expected to start selling glasses that display up-to-date information about the nearby environment on a tiny screen embedded in the lens.  

The glasses, according to the New York Times, "will have a low-resolution built-in camera that will be able to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby."  

This marvel of Terminator-like technology --  expected to cost $250 to $600 -- makes the proposed ban on texting and driving that's getting kicked around Tallahassee seem antiquated. The number of distractions behind the wheel is increasing rapidly, and targeting just one aspect -- texting, for instance -- is like slapping a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.

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Florida Mulls Texting and Driving Ban While Feds Ask Auto Industry to Limit In-Car Distractions

Categories: Transportation
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Lawmakers in Florida -- one of the most deadly states when it comes to driving -- are squabbling over whether we need a specific law against texting from behind the wheel. 

It seems like a no-brainer when considering, as reported by the Associated Press, that there are "drivers who text take their eyes off the road for almost 5 seconds," enough time to pilot a several-ton machine the length of a football field at 55 mph without ever noticing. 

Still, those opposed argue that such a ban is too intrusive. And, anyway, Florida has reckless-driving laws that can be applied to texting drivers.

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Florida's DWI Law Revision Could Lead to Conviction of Sober People

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Warning: Not for use by people who plan to ever drive a car.
​Under proposed revisions to Florida law, drivers could be hit with DWI charges even if they were totally sober while they were driving, according to an interpretation by a Broward County DWI lawyer.

SB 1810 is sitting in several Florida Senate committees and would revise the state's law regarding driving under the influence in several ways: It changes the name of the offense from "driving under the influence" to "driving while impaired" and adds provisions for blood and urine testing, which sound like relatively minor changes when you consider the big change: what authorities are testing for.

What they're testing for is drug metabolites, which means if you smoke a joint on Friday and get pulled over the following Tuesday with evidence of it in your urine, you could get hit with charges of driving while impaired even if you were stone sober on the roads.
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School Bus Cameras: A Whole New Way of Getting Tickets

Categories: Transportation
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A big yellow school bus could be the source of your next traffic ticket. 

Officials with the School District of Palm Beach County are weighing whether to install high-def cameras on buses to nab the license plates of drivers who ignore those little stop signs that extend from the side of the vehicles. 

As the Palm Beach Post reported, the district is testing the cameras on two buses, but they're "not sending out any tickets or warnings, just taking video of cars that blow through the 'stop arm.'"

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Negotiations Are Under Way for Expansion of Fort Lauderdale Airport's Terminal 4

We told you last week that Broward County has broken ground on a $791 million runway expansion at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International that will send planes up a six-story ramp over Federal Highway and the FEC tracks.
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Broward County Aviation Department
In tandem with that project, Terminal 4 (home to Spirit Airlines, as well as flights to Colombia and the Caribbean) will get a major expansion of its own. Only half of the project has been approved by the airlines, for which construction is estimated to cost around $25 million.

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Six Ways to Avoid Red Light Cameras

Categories: Transportation
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There's not another person on the road. And sure, you see the "No Turn on Red" sign, but that's just a suggestion. So you go for it. Then, boom -- the back of your car is illuminated by the flash of a covert camera. Your stomach sinks knowing that a fine will soon be arriving in the mailbox.

With those pesky red light cameras propped up at dozens of intersections -- and possibly more to come -- the market for products to beat the system is growing. Some are gimmicks; others seem viable. None is foolproof. 

Here, a look at six ways you can try to evade those ticket-spewing Cyclopes.

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Red Light Cameras May Increase Fatalities: USF Study

Categories: Transportation
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Everyone knows red light cameras suck. But now a new study from the University of South Florida indicates that they might actually be dangerous and lead to an increase in red-light-running fatality rates in cities that use them.

The research, published in the Florida Public Health Review, tore apart a study released last year by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety -- an industry group funded by insurance companies -- that said red light cameras could have prevented 815 deaths if installed nationwide.
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Red-Light Cameras Capture Highlight Reel of Florida Car Crashes

Categories: Transportation
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Place a few all-watching eyes at intersections throughout South Florida and reckless driving takes on a whole new meaning.

American Traffic Solutions -- the Big Brotheresque company that operates about a dozen red-light cameras in Broward and another 26 in Miami-Dade -- scoured its footage for the best accidents and close calls in Florida for 2011. The results, as expected from the deadliest state in the nation for pedestrians and bicyclists, are impressive.

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