Last year, when Houston finally got a rail line, the culture clash became physical. Since testing began in November, the silvery electric-powered train, which slides north and south along the street on a 7.5-mile route, has collided with more than 40 cars.
[…]Officials of the transit agency, known as Metro, do not come right out and say so, but their explanations for the accidents boil down to this: Houstonians are bad drivers. All the collisions, they say, can be attributed to driver error: illegal turns, failure to yield and disregard of signals.
There is plenty of support for that argument. The accident rate in greater Houston, train or no train, is well over double the national average.
“Houston Finds Some Pain in Car-Rail Coexistence”
As a native Austinite, I loathe Houston (actually, I don’t mind it too much at all, “loathe Houston” is just the party line…so…). As such, I love seeing “funny” stuff like this. Hah! Hah!…oh…we don’t even have a light-rail here in Austin…er…hah?
As the article points out, it looks like the “usability” of the system isn’t quite what it could be. First, there’s just some curb between the train and the car — instead of jersey walls or something, and,
To be fair to Houston drivers, they have had to master six new and complex traffic signs, including an icon that shows a train track, over which is superimposed a left-turn arrow, over which is a circle with a slash through it. The signs are symbols only, without words like “warning.”
[…]Some drivers complain that the train comes without the typical warnings.
“Are you from America?” Benny Delgadillo Sr. said indignantly. “I’m from America, 49 years. Here, you’re taught as a kid that flashing lights, arms come down – train’s coming.”
Comments
3 responses to “Houston's Light Rail”
Many cities around the country have light rail systems that have been around for ages. Here in San Francisco we have light-rail(in fact the exact same trains as Houston) in our streets. We also have street cars and cable cars which are basicly the same but smaller. Ours run right in the streets with no walls or even dividers to separate them from traffic. They just occupy a lane of traffic when they are there. It works fine here. I think Houston drivers will figure it out soon enough. It will definately benefit the area that it serves in the long run.
You are right about a car culture in Texas, but you show as much ignorance by stereotyping Houstonians. One point to consider is that Houston is a very heterogeneous population (we probably have more expatriates than most cities in the USA-more that SF and Austin, for sure) and that a good number of the accidents where related to out-town visitors. Another thing I lived in Austin for 4 years (for college) and those drivers were much worse- in fact once I saw a driver reversing out of the freeway through the entrance ramp! Drivers don’t get any worse than that, in my opinion.
Returning to the point about light rail, the opposite of what most people think, there is great support for light rail (even among people working for oil companies). Also living in a large city I have encountered many views and sometimes the “open-minded/liberal” people have the most ignorant and elitist-views. This post supports this- even with the satire. Of course saying this will open the line to accusations of being a ?w? supporter, pollution-loving Texan, etc even though I am Hispanic and didn?t vote for ?w?!
I grew up in NYc and resided near New Orleans for years. It floors me that Houston and LA are so far behind the reality curve. Now, as a new Houstonite (Houstonian,etc.) I am sitting here thinking, “why didnt they make a rail with the new highways?”. Again, I do not fathom this.
I recently went to Vienna, Austria, and the europeans have light rail down to an elegant art. Like NYC and London, you dont really need a car for your daily commute, only on the weekends.
It will be a learning curve, but honestly it will need to occur, Houston has the worst pollution and air quality in the south. This is not a political party issue, it is hard math and fact. Let’s get over it, and dont hit the train!!!