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.

A light rail train and city bus collided this morning in downtown Phoenix.

Both train and bus were headed southbound on 1st Avenue near Washington Street around 6:30 a.m. when the driver of the bus went to make a right turn and hit the oncoming train, according to this video report on KTVK‘s website and this report on the ABC 15 website.

There have been close to two dozen crashes involving the new light rail system since the debut of the new system back in December.

METRO has since tried to educate passengers and motorists in the Phoenix area about safety around light rail tracks.  See the latest education campaign here.