VERO BEACH, Fla. — Retiree Charlie Halk lives about 50 yards from train tracks in Vero Beach. He calls his backyard a train station.
"We hear a great deal of whistles 24/7," Halk said. "About every 15 to 20 minutes you have a train barreling through and you do hear it more so with the horns and the whistles."
Across the street from him, Paul Joyce shared his frustrations.
"When a northbound train comes past within about a minute or two, a southbound train comes past, so you get a double whammy," Joyce said.
Both were looking forward to the possibility of a countywide "quiet zone" of freight and Brightline trains. That means trains passing through Indian River County would only be allowed to blow their horns at certain times of the day or in emergency situations.
However, Tuesday morning, the county commissioners unanimously agreed not to pursue a "quiet zone."
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Indian River County Commissioner Deryl Loar said, "one expert from the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) even said that going hornless would also complicate the safety of our residents. With three first-responders on the board that have seen the damages, why would we lessen taking a horn away which is one added safety feature."
Residents feel they shouldn't have to suffer because people aren't paying attention to the railroad crossing signals.
"If you can not see that warning then shame on you, why should all of us be responsible for the ignorance of the vehicle operator," Halk said.
"I think that as people become more and more familiar with the trains here and all the red lights that are there, that the intersections would be perfectly safe without the horns," Joyce said.
Joyce hopes the county will reconsider, while Halk is losing hope.
"If I was aware that we had so much train traffic, I would have never purchased here," said Halk.
While county commissioners decided against "quiet zones" for now, that doesn’t mean they won’t revisit the topic later on.
