I think it's pretty obvious that The Houston Review is waging a campaign of biased journalism that the media usually reserves for SUVs. Only the big bad local boogeyman that they've chose to demonize is the light rail system.
Good grief, look at that list of accidents. It's all "A light rail train collides with this... A light rail train collides with that" when it looks to me that, more often than not, it's the moronic driver of the other vehicle who's at fault. Dazed and confused idiots trying to make illegal left turns, or backing out of driveways without looking to see if anything was coming down the street --- cripes, anything could hit an idiot like that: bus, another car, truck, bicycle.
How come Houston has so many idiots on the roads?
What did y'all do... give driver's licenses to the illegal immigrants?
Sheeeeeesh, revoke those licenses and keep those morons off the streets.
Make 'em ride the MetroRail and only let competent drivers operate automobiles. It'd be a lot safer for everybody.
You blame the problems with a design on the users. Were you in private industry producing a product, you would make a luscious target for a lawsuit. The job of the designer is to PREVENT problems and minimize the risks. Fixed rail transit systems have been around for a hundred years. The design requirements are well understood. So if it isn't done correctly, blame the designers. Unfortunately for fixed rail as a transportation mode, if there are problems with a fixed rail design, they are hideously expensive to reverse because of their size and cost, indicating yet another inherent flaw with the transit system you advocate.
One of the inherent risks in fixed rail transport systems is the enormous mass of the vehicles, which demands careful design to prevent collissions. Of course, that is more expensive AND disruptive to other modes of surface transportation. That latter problem was clearly illustrated in the discussion of how Houston had to shut the system down during the Superbowl, indicating yet another cost of fixed rail systems you have yet to confront (and carefully chose to ignore in your response). Note also the risks associated with single point failure, the power outages, when the system comes to a total halt. Automobiles, or buses for that matter, have their accidents and breakdowns too, but because it is a multipath system are capable of being re-routed around the problem. Yet another reason buses and jitneys are a better mass transit solution than fixed rail. Buses are vastly cheaper to buy, more reliable, more flexible, and employ more people, BUT they too have a single point failure mode, union work stoppages.
How come Houston has so many idiots on the roads?
The designers of the system knew that there were idiots on the roads before they built the system. The job of the designer is to account for stupidity because it is a factor in any mode of transportation. Fixed rail carries inherent risks that do even more to prove that they are not worth their outrageous costs. Buses are a far better solution.
Now Mayor Bob-White and others are considering a subway (in a swamp!) for future lines. One word: Quagmire.
Did you not read the full article, Willie? The entire purpose of the passages preceding AND following the list of wrecks was to discuss exactly why they are so frequent and assess exactly what role a BAD DESIGN on the train system has played in that frequency!
If you built a bridge and a motorist drove his car off the side every other day don't you think it would be fair to ask questions about a design flaw in that bridge? I certainly do and still would even if it was shown that every single one of those people who drove off the side were morons. It's called DESIGN FLAW and Houston's metrorail has it big time.