10 March 2008
Idiot driver taunts Danger Train
Here's a fun photo I snapped earlier with my cameraphone:
I'm in the Jeep, headed east on Elgin at Main.
The pickup driver is making an illegal left turn headed southbound on Main. He is sitting on TWO Danger Train tracks as he waits for traffic to clear (in the rain) so that he can make his illegal turn.
Sadly, the Danger Train was nowhere to be found. I was all set to document the collision!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/10/08 20:19 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (2)
08 February 2008
Danger Train hits, drags cyclist
A bicyclist rode into the Danger Train today, and was dragged 50 feet.
I don't think this sort of thing happens nearly so often in cities that segregate their rail lines from busy streets.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/08/08 22:41 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (1)
28 January 2008
Danger Train takes out Med Center driver
Metro train hits car making illegal turn onto Fannin (Houston Chronicle)
Police are investigating an accident at the Texas Medical Center today involving a Metropolitan Transit Authority light rail train, officials said.
According to preliminary information, the light rail train struck the car about 12:20 p.m. after the driver made an illegal left turn from John Freeman onto Fannin, authorities said.
There were no reported injuries, Metro officials said.
Drivers still haven't learned to watch out for the Danger Train!
It is going to be fun when drivers start running into the thing along the much busier Westpark Richmond line.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/28/08 19:35 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (1)
18 October 2007
Danger!
Teen Stabbed With Screwdriver On Train (KPRC-2 News)
A man with a screwdriver stabbed a teenager on a light-rail train Wednesday afternoon in downtown Houston, officials told KPRC Local 2.
METRO police said a 30-year-old man stabbed the teen just before 4 p.m. as the teen went to exit the train at the Ensemble METRO light-rail station on Main Street at Holman.
Why a screwdriver?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/18/07 21:02 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (8)
09 October 2007
Danger Train preps for Halloween
Several injured in Houston light rail train collision (Houston Chronicle)
A light rail train struck a sport utility vehicle in downtown Houston today when the driver went through a stop light at the intersection, Metro police said. The train hit the Chrysler Aspen broadside about 3:15 p.m. on Main at Pease.
The driver and the passenger in the SUV were taken to hospitals, along with about seven people in the train who said the accident injured them, authorities said. Their conditions were not immediately known. The accident remains under investigation.
Hey, I have a GREAT idea -- let's build MORE light rail down the middle of busy, congested surface streets and see what happens!
UPDATE: KTRK-13 posts photos.
UPDATE 2: KHOU-11 reports. And KPRC-2.
UPDATE 3: KTRK-13 reports (on air, no link yet) tonight that a METRO bus hit a pedestrian tonight. METRO admitted its driver was at fault. However, that must be mistaken, as defenders of METRO insist the organization is never at fault for anything, ever. :)
UPDATE 4: Here is the Chron story about UPDATE 3:
A Metro bus struck and injured a woman in downtown Houston this afternoon.
The bus was turning from Walker onto Bagby shortly before 5 p.m. when it hit the woman, who was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital with arm, neck and back injuries, said Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts.
No one on the bus was injured in the accident.
The bus driver was at fault because the woman had the right of way as a pedestrian, Roberts said.
She said the driver will undergo drug testing and an investigation by First Transit, the company that runs garages for Metro.
Runs garages? Umm, a garage didn't hit a pedestrian. A bus did.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/09/07 17:13 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (16)
07 October 2007
Danger Train strikes motorized wheelchair
Woman in wheelchair struck by Metro train (KHOU-11 News)
A woman in an electric wheelchair was recovering Friday evening after being struck by a Metro train.
The incident occurred around 6 p.m. on Main at McKinney.
The woman had apparently just exited the train when her chair was clipped by another train.
No word yet on her condition, but her chair was split in two.
1 hurt when Metro train collides with scooter (Lindsay Wise, Houston Chronicle)
A light-rail train collided with a motorized scooter in downtown Houston Friday afternoon, sending the woman rider to the hospital, Metro officials said.
The accident occurred at the intersection of Main and McKinney about 5:30 p.m. when a 47-year-old woman driving a motorized scooter tried to cross Main Street, said Metro spokeswoman Sandra Aponte Salazar.
"Evidently she didn't see the train going southbound and it clipped the rear wheel of her scooter," Salazar said.
The woman was thrown from her scooter, which broke into two pieces, Salazar said.
She was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening, Salazar said.
Though undamaged, the train was taken out of service and all passengers of were off-loaded, she said. The southbound line experienced a 15 minute delay, Salazar said.
The accident is under investigation, she said.
Our Danger Train is an equal-opportunity predator! :)
I nearly missed this story, as the incident took place the day I left for Athens.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/07/07 17:47 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (1)
12 September 2007
Best Danger Train Near-Miss EVER!
Around lunchtime today, I was headed westbound in Midtown and was stopped at Main.
The lights have been out of sync for a few days, which means I've seen the train stuck and waiting in traffic for the "go" signal several times.
Today, the train was waiting well behind the crossing, headed in the direction of the Med Center (putting it to my right).
A beat up work truck was on the far right side of the train also on Main, pulled further up in the intersection, also headed towards the Med Center.
The second the traffic on Main got the green, the driver of the work truck floored it, cut in front of the train, and flipped an illegal u-turn back onto main, headed towards downtown.
The train had barely started inching forward. If it had taken off when it got its signal, that truck would have been in some kind of difficulty.
I know Houston drivers are horrible (and despite the fun I have with the "Danger Train" I do concede that driver error is mostly responsible for the crazy number of Danger Train incidents, even though aspects of the design contribute to the poor safety record), but THAT maneuver is just about tops of things I have personally witnessed.
Wow.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/12/07 14:19 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (3)
10 August 2007
Danger Train collision (2007-08-10)
Child hurt when car hits MetroRail train (Houston Chronicle)
A child suffered minor injuries after a car struck a light rail train in downtown Houston this afternoon, authorities said.
The car, traveling on Congress near Main about 4 p.m., ran a red light before striking the MetroRail train, said Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts.
The child was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital with minor injuries, Roberts said.
No other injuries were reported.
The train was replaced, Roberts said, and MetroRail has resumed normal operations.
The local media don't bother to report most of these collisions anymore. I'm not quite sure what made this one any different. Maybe that a child was injured?
Meanwhile, METRO continues plans to build even more at-grade rail right in the middle of some of the busier surface streets in Houston. That seems like a really good idea.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/10/07 19:15 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (0)
10 March 2007
Danger Train collision!
We don't get to have as much fun with Danger Train collisions these days, since the numbers have gone down some and the media rarely reports the collisions that still occur, but here's a rare report nonetheless from KHOU-11:
A woman and her infant were taken to the hospital after her SUV collided with a Metro light rail train. A Metro spokesman said the woman ran a red light causing the accident.The collision occurred at the intersection of Main and Bell just before 4 p.m. Thursday. The unidentified woman and her infant were taken by ambulance to St. Luke’s Hospital with minor injuries.
Metro said the woman will be cited for running a red light.
Nothing quite says "world class" like running your "transit backbone" trolley system down busy streets to play bumper cars with bad Houston drivers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/10/07 14:04 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (0)
28 January 2007
Danger Train collision
Driver hurt in Metro Rail crash (KHOU-11 news)
A car crashed into a Metro Rail train Friday afternoon at Main and Pierce in downtown Houston.
Two women, one pushing the other in a wheelchair, nearly became victims too.
"We were right here, right here. I looked over and just saw his truck flying in the middle of the street," said Heather MacQueen.
"Then that hit and stuff was flying everywhere," said Debra Johnson, who was pushing MacQueen's wheelchair. "If that pole hadn't been there he would have hit us."
The women were hit by debris, but not seriously hurt.
The local media have grown bored with covering Danger Train collisions, so we do not often get to post these sorts of updates any more. Thankfully, the Danger Train did not take out another wheelchair, as it has done in the past.
This is what can happen when your transit authority builds rail lines at grade down busy roads as if they are trolleys, instead of segregrating them from motor traffic like "world-class" cities do.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/28/07 21:55 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (0)
05 September 2006
Danger train collision
As the local media stopped reporting every Danger Train collision and said number of collisions has declined somewhat from the record-breaking early days, Sudden Acceleration Syndrome has sort of taken the place of Danger Train hijinks here on the little personal blog for entertainment purposes.
Nonetheless, I forgot to mention this bit of Danger Train fun that I posted over at the hyperlocal blog.
If Rep. Culberson hadn't nixed rail down Richmond, we might have had a whole new installment of Danger Train pinball, given the amount of traffic and cross-traffic along that street. For this, the Richmond people seem very thankful.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/05/06 12:31 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (0)
13 May 2006
Danger Train Collision!
An off-duty police officer hit the Danger Train today:
An off-duty Houston police officer was involved in a collision with a Metro train at about 3 p.m. today, at the intersection of Main and West Alabama.
The officer, and two passengers on the train, have been transported to area hospitals for treatment of their injuries.
The police officer's dog also was injured in the crash.
Metro spokesman George Smalley said that a preliminary report about the train wreck showed that the train operator was headed south bound on Main, when the train was struck by a black Ford Expedition headed westbound on West Alabama.
HPD spokesman Nate McDuell said that the police officer is an undercover narcotics officer who was not on duty. The officer's dog, which was riding in the Expedition, also was injured in the collision, McDuell said.
Smalley said the preliminary report also indicated that the officer may have run a red light at the intersection.
The police officer was taken to Memorial Hermann hospital for treatment of his injuries, Smalley said.
A female passenger on the train was taken to St. Luke's Hospital, after complaining of a neck injury, and a male passenger on the train was taken to Ben Taub Hospital. The extent of his injuries are unknown, Smalley said.
The weekend crew at the Chronicle must not understand that they're not supposed to report such news!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/13/06 18:29 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (0)
27 January 2006
Danger Train Collision?
KSEV-700 is reporting a Danger Train collision this morning.
The Danger Trains were running when I crossed at Elgin earlier.
This is shaping up to be a World Class Friday!
UPDATE: Laurence Simon has more on the collision. That's more reporting than any media outlet in town has posted to the web. Why cover this stuff when there is inane babbling about Houston 1836 or Vince Young dominating the news cycle, right?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/06 07:37 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (2)
04 January 2006
Danger Train Collision (With Blind Man)!
Laurence Simon alerted me to this collision with the Danger Train today:
A man was transported to the hospital with head injuries this morning after he was struck by a light rail train downtown, Metro officials said.
The victim, whose condition is unknown, was conscious and breathing after the accident, said Metro spokesman George Smalley. He was taken to Ben Taub Hospital.
The accident occurred near the intersection of Lamar and Main at 11:45 a.m. Three eyewitnesses told police they saw the man "walk in front of the train," Smalley said.
The man was walking northbound on the west side of Main and would have had to turn or walk to his right to get in the way of the train, which was headed southbound, Smalley said.
That's gotta sting.
Oh, and did I mention that the man struck by the train was blind?
A world-class celebration on Braille's Birthday, no? (Thanks to Laurence for making that connection).
Also, there was a Danger Train collision while I was hiking in the Ouachitas around Christmas that Anne blogged about on bH but that I never mentioned here. The collision actually derailed the Danger Train, making the streets safe for a short time. Emergency personnel treated it as a "mass casualty event" and several people were hospitalized (none of them died, so far as I know).
I cross that intersection (Elgin) every morning, and you better believe I look both ways and don't cross on green unless I'm sure the Danger Train is nowhere in sight. I've seen the operators speeding through that intersection, and I frankly don't trust them to stop if they have the stop light (they are never supposed to have the stop light, according to METRO, but I see it regularly).
I've completely lost count of the collisions, since METRO and local media aren't very good about getting these things reported.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/04/06 13:44 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (3)
03 November 2005
Danger Train: Collision #??
There was a Danger Train collision today.
From KPRC-2:
A METRORail train was involved in an accident Thursday morning that shut down part of the line temporarily.
Image courtesy KHOU-11The wreck happened shortly after 11 a.m. in the 700 block of Main Street. Officials told KPRC Local 2 that the train was traveling northbound on Main when a car traveling westbound on Capital ran a red light and was hit by the train. The vehicle was then pushed into a traffic box.
Emergency crews were sent to the scene to care for the vehicle's driver, who suffered minor injuries. No one else was injured.
From KHOU-11:
A driver suffered minor injuries after colliding with a Metro light rail train near Main and Capitol in downtown Houston around 11:15 a.m. Thursday.
The driver suffered minor injuries after colliding with a Metro light rail train.
A Metro spokesperson said the train was northbound on Main and the vehicle was westbound on Capitol when the driver ran a red light.
The car was pushed into and damaged a nearby traffic utilities box.
The driver was transported to the hospital as a precaution.
The passengers on the train were offloaded onto a bus. No one onboard was injured.
Those efficient, inexpensive buses that the affluent "world class" transit types don't like to ride sure come in handy, don't they?
We've sort of lost track of Danger Train collisions since the local media sometimes doesn't report crashes and it's been a while since Tom Bazan has requested crash info from METRO, but that's at least Crash #110 by Gaver's count.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/05 14:07 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (3)
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