Light rail is so dumb, hogging the center

If roads were striped for the through traffic to go down the center of the road with left turns from the lane to the immediate right of the through traffic lane you would say this was inviting crashes. When you are turning left you  expect someone going straight through to be on your right, not coming up on your left. Yet that's exactly what street-running light rail cars and trolleys do.

They hog the center and cut across left turners.

And as a result they cause lots of crashes.

In Houston which has just one light rail line of just a  few miles they had 57 rail-on-car crashes in 2008, many of them left turn crashes.

Now police are being stationed at some of the intersections of Houston's light rail line to control left-turners.

The Metro police chief is quoted: "Some may say we're being very aggressive with having officers at every intersection. But we have a responsibility to public safety to make sure we reduce accidents."

So do transport planners have a responsibility for public safety and reducing accidents. They should give rail its own grade separated right of way and keep it off the streets.

TOLLROADSnews 2009-01-15