Tell a friend about the Phoenix lightrail crash
Posted on 06. Sep, 2009 by Tony Arranaga in News
METRO lightrail and rescue crews in Phoenix responded to the worst crash since the system started carrying passengers eight months ago. According to the Arizona Republic, four people were transported to a local hospital after an SUV ran a red light and slammed into the side of a train at 32nd Street and Washington early Saturday morning. You can see the damage on KPHO.com here. This is the 35th accident involving lightrail in the city of Phoenix, most of them fender benders except for the one involving a city bus and a train. (source)
If you’re reading this, do me a favor. If you do one thing this holiday weekend, make sure you tell a friend about this crash. Tell as many people as possible. Valley Metro has a safety campaign, and you may want to argue that they could do more to alert the public, but as members of the community it’s also our responsibility to remind the ones we love about the trains that share the roadway with cars. While there are new signals and signs you need to familiarize yourself with around the tracks, let’s not forget the very basics of safe driving. Remind your friends and family this weekend to watch out for trains around Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa.
According to Valley Metro’s website, most collisions between light rail and motor vehicles are caused by motorists making illegal or improper turns or running red lights. (source) For more on lightrail safety click here.
2 Responses to “Tell a friend about the Phoenix lightrail crash”
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sperry
12. Sep, 2009
i was on this accident when it got hit, even though only a few people went to the hospital, it wasn’t reported how many people actually went to the hospital after the fact.
i was one person who actually ended up in emergency later with sprain injuries, it could have been worse.
but seriously Arizona needs to build the lightrail like the train built high in Seattle then we can avoid problems like this.
Adron
19. Sep, 2009
Mitigations can be put in place to avoid this. However one can’t stop the stupidity of motorists. When one steps into an automobile the brain – and I mean everyone including myself – just oozes out. People do the dumbest shit ever in automobiles, their sense of reality becomes skewed, and often people pay the price.
This happens rarely in Portland, Oregon as drivers are generally more aware of light rail here. But even more importantly, a LOT of mitigation work has gone into play here in PDX to prevent these incidents from occurring in the first place. Most traffic that even enters in or around light rail in PDX is slow traffic. One of the key elements to keep it safe.
With all that said, I hope everyone ends up ok, even the idiot driver.
sperry – Building raised light rail is great, but keep in mind it is about 10x the cost of regular light rail systems and often is harder to utilize than at grade street level light rail. In a city like Phoenix, it was extremely important for it to not be raised for the aspect of adding life to the city. Seattle on the other hand, doesn’t need assistance with adding life to the core – they just need to bring those people in and out of the city. So in that situation they could build raised or submerged light rail and not raise many usage issues. In addition Seattle also made a valiant effort to not intrude on the natural areas toward Tukwilla, which is the major raised segment of the route.
Add on comment in regards to Seattle’s System. A LOT of the system actually is at grade/street level through the stadium area, SODO (art district), then through a tunnel into more street running.
I’m very interested to see the design of the light rail when I’m in town in Phoenix in just over a week and a half. Curious what mitigations are in place – maybe I can toss a few more at officials while in town?