Posted on 05/11/2005 7:17:41 AM PDT by weegee
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.
Veda Flores was following the pickup truck when she said the driver drove through a red light and into the path of the oncoming train.
"We stopped at the light but he kept going," she said. "It was just like slow motion."
Visibly shaken after witnessing the fatal accident, Flores said it was clear the driver was at fault.
"There was no way the train could stop," she said. "He (the train operator) didn't have time."
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.
Transit agency technicians were at the scene to remove a recording device — similiar to a black box in an airliner — which investigators hope may offer clues in the investigation, such as the speed of the train at the time.
Metro officials said they also would be conducting an investigation into Tuesday's fatal accident.
"We're going to have to take a hard look at it and see if there's anything at all we can do to improve safety," said Metro spokesman George Smalley.
Since MetroRail began taking passengers it has been involved in more than 74 accidents, including at least four in which pedestrians were struck by trains.
The 7.5-mile rail line holds the record for the number of accidents in a year among light rail systems in the United States — 63, set during its first year of operation.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority and police have blamed all but one of the accidents on pedestrians getting too close to the tracks and motorists attempting illegal turns across the tracks or running red lights.
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.
In the first quarter of this year, Metro reported 13 rail-automobile collisions, half the number during the first quarter of 2004.
Metro considers an incident a reportable accident if it results in at least one injury or property damage in excess of $1,000.
The rail line carries about 32,000 riders a day as it runs from the University of Houston-Downtown to just south of the Loop 610, and back.
The train has a top speed of 40 mph, but an average speed of 15.5 mph, according to Metro.
Metro officials expect to resume full operation of the light rail by rush hour today.
Let me guess... the train was named "Darwin"?
I guess the light at the end of his tunnel really was a train.
For what it's worth, two or three weeks ago I was at Main (and maybe Elgin) and I had the green light (something failed and the light didn't go red). Metrorail ran the light (because basically, it is illegal to hit the Chronicle/Mayor Brown's train). I didn't get hit (I was approaching the light when I observed this) but there are problems in the system.
Problems that an elevated rail never would have had.
Sorry about the double post. Could you please help out htere thanks.
weird thing about that photo is that it looks like there are people actually about to USE the train. What is the ridership level of this system?
hmm, isn't Willie Green moving to Texas....
This waste cost more then $400 million dollars, ridership is falling. To be blunt they could have bought every rider of this a new Jeep Libery sport and still have saved money.
Traffic engineers spent decades separating different modes of transportation to reduce fatalities. Now we have the train fanatics grabbing money from the Feds and promoting light rail in every city in the country as a way to reduce congestion if you don't mind taking a lot longer to get from point A to point B.
Current estimates for the real price of a light rail ride is from $15 to $20 or so a ticket. It carries a miniscule amount of rush hour traffic, and the trains themselves have far less capacity than a freeway lane. Light rail also has a higher per fatality rate per passenger mile than any other form of transit. Mixed mode transport is deadly. You'd save a lot and get better, more flexible transit, by spending the money on express buses that pick up and drop off in various parts ot the city.
But, as with all leftist projects, it's the idea, not the outcome. Besides, all of these deaths are someone else's fault.
Is that sign on the station in Spanish?
I hope it isn't.
Makes no sense to me. Put it in a tunnel or elevate it, but you are not alleviating congestion when you build it to compete with surface traffic that is already gridlocked enough on its own.
They're building essential a clone in Phoenix.
Many of us fought the ballot initiative hard, but lost.
It will traverse my neighborhood.
Oh joy.
And to say this is the first fatality! Check out the Wham-Bam-Tram numbers on the Action America Houston page http://www.actionamerica.org/houston/index.shtml
Can't put it underground in Houston. It would flood. Hell this one is surface level and floods (where it cannot be run) in 3 inches of rain.
Houston probably has the own Main Street in a major city that is only one lane in each direction.
This passed as did all of the other major ballot initiatives with the bare minimum of support (like 1 or 2 percent).
The Comical was a sponsor of this (for their downtown and construction business buddies). Tom Delay fought against federal funding for this project and has been on their "enemies" list ever since.
It would probably reduce traffic if people used it, but retrofitting a commuter rail system onto a city which has developed on an automobile model is not going to be easy.
In my heart, I think it would be great for there to be safe fast comfortable mass transit, but where I live (Nashville) the population density in the suburbs is too low to suddenly think we could switch back to a trolley system. Maybe it would have been smart not to have ripped out the tracks way back when, but its about 60 years too late to undue that decision.
Then elevating it would be the logical thing to do, eh?
From the story:
Veda Flores was following the pickup truck when she said the driver drove through a red light and into the path of the oncoming train.
Seems pretty silly to blame the train for penalizing the dead guy's own stupidity...
I cross over those tracks everyday and you can't hear the whistle when its coming. This is one place where if you run a red light you have a good chance of being killed.
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