Nov. 20, 2003, 2:04AM SUV, light-rail car collide during train's test run By MIKE GLENN Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle A Metro light rail car and a sport utility vehicle collided downtown during the train's test run Wednesday night. Police said it was the first accident involving the city's new light rail system. The accident occurred about 8:30 p.m. when the driver of the Jeep Cherokee turned in front of the train at Main and Gray, Metro police said. "The lady in the truck, she made an illegal left turn," Metro police Sgt. Antonio Ford said. "She cut right in front of the train." KPRC-Channel 2 officials confirmed that Krista Marino, the station's health reporter, was driving the Jeep when it was struck by the train. Marino, who was not on duty at the time, was cited by police for making an illegal turn. The train clipped the rear of the Cherokee, causing only minimal damage to both vehicles, Ford said. No one was injured. Ken Connaughton, Metropolitan Transit Authority spokesman, said train car 107 was traveling northbound on a test run when the vehicle made an illegal left turn in front of the train. The train car hit the vehicle, causing minimal damage to both the train and passenger vehicle. "We have been involved in an intensive training effort for a year, and we hope that that will minimize any situations like this," Connaughton said. "However, for those people who don't pay attention to the train, there's not a lot we can do." A Metro police vehicle was escorting the train at the time of the accident. Wednesday's incident underscores the need for motorists to be aware of the fact that "there's a new element here, a new transportation player that you need to be aware of," Connaughton said.
Oh, no! An accident! We should just scrap the whole system because some idiot made an ILLEGAL TURN and caused the accident. Come on, texx, there are plenty of valid reasons to dislike rail, but this is just silly.
HOWEVER it is not unexpected. . . now if it were a MONORAIL above ground. . .this would not have happened Rocket River
What a surprise, Metro isn't working properly! What's next? A cost overrun? A delay? Tearing up the roads so that it damages everyone's vehicles and creates gridlock? Oh well, it's definitely worth it. Those 1% of Houstonians that will use the rail would much rather have a toy train than a brand new Mercedes, which would cost the same amount per person. Meanwhile the 99% of us who are footing the bill and not even using it will be stuck on the roads for even longer on our commutes home.
Actually the train just happened to be the vehicle struck by some bimbo reporter making an illegal left hand turn. If she had made an illegal left hand turn in front of you and you hit her Jeep, would it be the fault of your behemoth SUV? Pretty weak T_J, even by your standards.
Were the proper alerts in place to notify the driver of the Jeep that a train was coming? Probably not. Glad to see our new toy train is about as effective as the clowns who built it! Won't the SuperBowl be fun!
She was too busy rewinding Finding Nemo on her Jeep's factory-installed DVD player and talking on her cell phone to pay attention to any silly alerts...
Let me spell it out for you, since you don't seem to understand... She made an ILLEGAL left hand turn. You know illegal, i.e. prohibited by law. Again if someone runs a red light and t-bones your precious gas guzzler, was it your responsibilty to let her know that you were coming?
The train was being ESCORTED BY A POLICE CAR!!! How much more of an alert do you need? The woman RAN INTO THE TRAIN, not the other way around. As was pointed out in an earlier post, this is weak even for you.
I agree that a monorail might be a better solution, as would be the hanging tram solution that I saw on 60 Minutes recently. We will have some accidents with the trains that operate on the same level as our streets, but we need to start a mass transportation solution now, not later. Other options may be available for the commuter trains to the suburbs, but the rail we are creating now will be an integral (anyone else want to scream when Calvin says "intricate part" instead of "integral part?") part of the total solution.
According to the article, the train hit the car: KPRC-Channel 2 officials confirmed that Krista Marino, the station's health reporter, was driving the Jeep when it was struck by the train. Marino, who was not on duty at the time, was cited by police for making an illegal turn.
The article also said: "The lady in the truck, she made an illegal left turn," Metro police Sgt. Antonio Ford said. "She cut right in front of the train." So the train hit her truck because SHE was at fault.
I am not arguing that she wasn't at fault, I was simply responding to the post that you made which contained the following: The woman RAN INTO THE TRAIN, not the other way around.
Yea it was her fault, but then again it's a pretty stupid idea to put a train on a city street. Metro could pay for their train if they would just start a betting pool, pick the date of the first train/auto fatality, pick the number of train/pedestrian incedents in the first calender year, pick the amount of the cost overrun at completion, how many days in the first year will the train be stopped by the rain. It could be bigger than the Texas Lotto.
