Danger Train: Collision #88 (16) (1)
(Photo via KPRC-2)
Houston drivers and even a few pedestrians have done their best to take on the Danger Train.
Last night, the Danger Train demonstrated that the dark side of the force is powerful indeed:
A pickup driver was killed in downtown Houston late Tuesday when his vehicle was broadsided by a Metro light rail train, the first fatality on the rail line since it opened to the public in January 2004.
The accident happened shortly before 10:30 p.m. on southbound Main at Jefferson. The driver, who was killed on impact, was believed to be a man in his 30s. He was the only person in the Dodge pickup truck, police said.
[snip]
The front of the train ripped through the driver's side door and pushed the pickup about 50 feet along the tracks.
"The impact is right on the driver's door, which is kind of a weak part of the vehicle," said Sgt. G.T. Hall, with the Houston Police Department accident division.
The pickup truck came to a rest against the Downtown Transit Center stop at Main and Jefferson.
Police said four passengers on the train were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries. Eight other riders were not injured.
Accident investigators confirmed that the train operator — who wasn't injured — likely would not be found at fault because the victim ran a red light and may have been speeding.
" We're very confident that the fault lies with the deceased," Sgt. Hall said.
One hopes that METRO police chief Lambert does not show up at the funeral and try to issue the poor man's estate a citation.
The Chronicle's coverage includes this snippet near the end:
Critics blame the record number of accidents on the system's at-grade rail design, with some nicknaming the $324 million MetroRail "The Danger Train." Questions also have been raised about confusing signage and traffic lights along the rail line. Additionally, MetroRail tracks share the left-turn lanes with motorists in the Texas Medical Center area.
That's a pretty fair assessment of some of the design flaws, the sort of assessment we didn't always get from Lucas Wall. I can't imagine Lucas referring to the "Danger Train" in a story either.
Sadly, I've had to add a new category in parentheses to these Danger Train updates. The first item in parentheses is documented collisions this year. The second item in parentheses is Danger Train fatalities. The first item (no parentheses) is, of course, total collisions.
Laurence Simon posted an early update on the fatal collision.
(Update) Chris Elam posted a late-night update as well. The blogHOUSTON/PubliusTX.net night desks were obviously not staffed as well. :)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/11/05 07:48 | Danger Train | Technorati
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Comments
I woke up to mick the Huffington Post when Pat Dickson sent me an email.
Posted by Laurence Simon @ 09:38 on 05/11/05
Guess what, Kevin: You're World Class! (for getting your cognomen for the Perilous Choo-Choo in the paper)
Posted by TP @ 09:52 on 05/11/05
ONO!
Posted by whilo @ 12:17 on 05/11/05
Love it. Guy runs a red light; the accident's the fault of what hit him. If it'd been a car (ok, a big heavy car -- say, a Hummer) that hit him, would it still not be his fault for running a red light?
Posted by Adrianne Truett @ 19:41 on 05/11/05
I personally do fault the driver, but it also is the fault of Metro for the poor design.
Look at the 4 largest cities in the U.S. and their transit systems:
1. New York - Subway
2. Los Angeles - Subway
3. Chicago - "El" Elevated Trains
4. Houston - Surface Light Rail
Light rail has existed for over a century, and went out of favor in the 1940's and 1950's with the popularity of automobiles.
The reason they went out of favor in many communities is the fact that they have never peacefully coexisted with automobile transportation.
Why the 4th largest city would choose a system that not even some smaller cities (Las Vegas and Seattle) want to use (the cities that have modern light-rail systems were pushed through by liberal organizations who have one purpose in life, a light rail stop at every corner.)
Again, it's time for Houston to rethink their future transit plans, and plan for something that stays above flood waters and traffic.
And for the current system, require the trains to slow to 10-15 miles per hour at every intersection. Blasting through at 40 miles per hour is purely unsafe.
Posted by Michael W. Jones @ 19:57 on 05/11/05
Love it. Guy runs a red light; the accident's the fault of what hit him.
Woah, Nellie!
Backtrack. Reread.
Now, where exactly did I or anyone else say the accident is the fault of what hit the guy?
Surely not in THE FIRST PARAGRAPH, where I suggest that Houstonians have done their best to run into the damn thing! And surely not in the second paragraph, which is a pathetic Star Wars joke about the folly of taking on the train!
BUT, the design flaws are there, and it is ABSOLUTELY the case that a poor design has contributed to the record-setting WRETCHED safety record of the Danger Train. Kudos to the post-Lucas Wall traffic reporter for including that paragraph.
Posted by Kevin @ 21:44 on 05/11/05
To M. Jones -
Actually, Sound Transit's light rail system is currently expanding into Seattle. Other major cities to use surface light rail are Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, your neighbor Dallas, Portland, San Francisco, Baltimore, Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and so on. If you look into these cities, you'll see ample cases where the light rail transit and automobiles co-exist peacefully. However, these two modes will only work together as well as the auto drivers will allow - the addition of something so major requires a culture change, and until that happens, you'll continue to have these accidents.
Posted by ryan @ 09:14 on 02/26/07
Laying rail down already congested traffic lanes just borders on insanity. It worsens traffic congestion AND creates unsafe conditions.
Here are some photos that illustrate the mess Houston made of this rail line:
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
Posted by Kevin @ 10:01 on 02/27/07
In reference to Kevin's post with flickr link.
The pictures of Houston's L.R.S. are absolutely scary.
It is incomprehensible to me that a city that big would invest millions of dollars on such an obviously screwed up system. It is just plain crazy that anyone would think it was a good idea for a train and a car to EVER share a traffic lane much less a turning lane where the odds are bigger that some car will be caught in the lane at some point when the train wants to proceed down the street.
This is either a prime example of Texas 'Good Ole Boy' Politics are gross mismanagement and incompetence on the part of the Houston City Government and the Texas State Government responsible for approving this.
Posted by Reddragon696 @ 05:23 on 12/12/08
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