Safety & Speed 

As speed increases, the fatality chance also increases when a mishap occurs. We attempt to maintain a balance, by implementing safety measures and regulating speed.

The creating of dedicated guide ways is one method of increasing safety. Unlike bare wheels on rails Sky Train and some maglev vehicles are actually locked to the guideway, so that when mishaps occur only structure is damaged while direction and passenger safety is still under control.

As to High Speed systems in the US, the map below shows that many states will enhance their infrastructures in transportation, recouping their tax dollars with federal matches to their investments .

As shown in our "Data Link Info" on the left, article (F) Fatality rates 23 times higher are shown in the attached charts, per auto mile, compared to other modes of public transportation. Pollution reduction from rail travel is tremendous - when measured per actual 100 passenger miles, see chart attached. The charts are given in "APTA information on safety and pollution" in Transportation 9/12/2000.

                                                                Some state officials are trying to derail dreams of a high-speed train. Senator Ron Klein of Boca Raton wants Florida voters to reconsider their approval last year of an amendment to the state constitution requiring a high-speed rail system. Under the new proposal voters would have the opportunity in 2002 to repeal the amendment. State officials are estimating the cost of connecting areas of Florida with the high speed rail between $12.3-billion and nearly $90-billion dollars.

Klein may be the first to speak out, but many lawmakers are quietly unhappy about a high-speed rail system and say it takes money away from important road projects. For example, in Polk County, plans for a widening of I-4 are now in disarray as a result of the rail amendment. Department of Transportation officials say the additional planning and development needed for the train will add well over $100-million dollars to the project. C.C. Dockery, a millionaire from Lakeland, has championed the bullet-train cause for years and his dream was realized last November when voters green-lighted the amendment. Critics of the project, upset over the cost, also point out that Dockery's wife, Paula Dockery, sits on the Transportation Committee and is the sponsor of the bill that would set the bullet-train project into motion. Paula admits there could be the "appearance of a conflict" but adds she's not sure "what it would be."