Friday, July 23, 2004
Houston Light Rail Has 51st Collision
The "Wham-Bam Tram" had its 51st collision yesterday (July 22), but Metro, Houston's transit agency, is counting it as only number 50. That's because police have decided that the pedestrian hit in collision number 49 was attempting to commit suicide. Apparently, if someone tries to commit suicide by rail transit you don't have to count it as a collision. (Actually, the FTA counts suicides as collisions.)
Metro, of course, says that all but one of the collisions were someone else's fault. They won't admit that the fact that their line has twenty times as many collisions as the national average for light rail suggests that it was poorly designed. Of course, light rail has nearly three times as many fatalities as buses, but transit officials won't admit that this difference is also due to flaws in the basic concept of light rail. Commuter rail has about twice as many fatalities as buses; only subways are safer than buses.
Metro, of course, says that all but one of the collisions were someone else's fault. They won't admit that the fact that their line has twenty times as many collisions as the national average for light rail suggests that it was poorly designed. Of course, light rail has nearly three times as many fatalities as buses, but transit officials won't admit that this difference is also due to flaws in the basic concept of light rail. Commuter rail has about twice as many fatalities as buses; only subways are safer than buses.
Comments:
I agree in the poor design of the Houston light rail has been a major source of accidents but lightrail itself is NOT a dangerous form of transportation. The reason for the poor design was due to the fact that it was constructed without it's specific right of way. This was to appease the motoring public by not taking away any road. A mistake.
There are plenty of lightrails around the country where accidents are rare like the Newark City Subway or the Hudson Bergen light rail. The success of these and many lightrails are due to the fact that many run on dedicated right of way giving them exclusive access away from motor traffic. In cases where they do run with traffic, the amount of time is limited often separted from motorcars in general.
In the end, we must all take things into perspective. Houston's annual rate of death by motor vehicles is about 10.49. This is an issue that is far more serious than these fender benders with the lightrail. This does not include the hundreds of accidents between the motor traffic in general.
Steve
http://www.carwrecks.com/info9.html
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There are plenty of lightrails around the country where accidents are rare like the Newark City Subway or the Hudson Bergen light rail. The success of these and many lightrails are due to the fact that many run on dedicated right of way giving them exclusive access away from motor traffic. In cases where they do run with traffic, the amount of time is limited often separted from motorcars in general.
In the end, we must all take things into perspective. Houston's annual rate of death by motor vehicles is about 10.49. This is an issue that is far more serious than these fender benders with the lightrail. This does not include the hundreds of accidents between the motor traffic in general.
Steve
http://www.carwrecks.com/info9.html
