A car made an illegal left hand turn and collided with a light rail train this morning, Sound Transit spokesperson Bruce Gray said.
The accident occured at the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd and Othello St at around 11 am. The scene was cleared and normal service resumed by 11:35, Gray said.
No major injuries have been reported.
If it took only ~35 minutes to get things back to normal, good for them. That’s much better than the fiascoes we’ve had in the past.
Anyone hear any station announcements?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012851168_soundtransitax10m.html
” The car’s driver and passenger were treated at the scene for minor injuries.”
i hope this driver was fined for the damage and issued a ticket for disobeying traffic laws.
As a serious question for the next time the STB crew gets a Q&A with Sound Transit – is the offender/their insurance billed for damages? Even if it’s just a crumpled bumper cover I’m sure those sorts of bodywork parts aren’t cheap given the relatively low production volume vs. say a stock Corolla quarter panel.
Yes, every time.
A cavalcade of illegal left turns in front of Light Rail, for your viewing pleasure.
I am thrilled McGinn wants a thrid line from Ballard/Greenwood to West Seattle, but he wants it to be just like MLK-Way!?!? Hasn’t he realized that center-running light-rail is completely dysfunctional.
It’s dysfunctional because of an accident today?
Not just because of that – it’s dysfunctional for other reasons, too. No dedicated ROW (The Link, from time to time, does suffer from having to sit at red lights), speed limit while at-grade is the same as traffic’s, and yes, it does have to put up with drivers who are completely oblivious to signs or think that they can beat the train.
I’ve sat on link stuck in traffic. A train, stuck in traffic. What is this 1900?
Dysfunctional compared to no line at all? Because in both cases that’s the alternative.
I thought the alternative was keeping the bus service that already provides one-seat connectivity between Ballard-Downtown-West Seattle.
Building inefficient transit strikes me as one of the best ways to fuel opposition to investment in transit.
What’s this…number 6 of the same exact type of accident?
Is anyone keeping score?
Trains 6, cars 0.
Let’s compare the number of car-train incidents to car collisions on Rainier.
According to SDOT, from Jan 2002 through Dec 2004 there were 1,743 collisions on Rainier Ave S. That’s an average of 581 per year, or over 100 times the number of Link-involved incidents over the same time span.
And it’s infinity times the number of incidents where the Link driver was at fault. :)
Yes, but if you figure the mass of LINK is like 100 times that of a car.
The problem is when two cars get in an accident those two people are effected. Rarely does an accident close off the entire street although it’s possible. An accident with Link means that the next couple of trains full of people aren’t getting to work on time or will miss their flight or…. It’s best that trains don’t get in accidents, too many people rely on them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_point_of_failure
Yeah, car accidents never block roads…
I-5 S. lanes reopened after accident near S. 200th St.
The southbound lanes of Interstate-5 near S. 200th St. have reopened after a motorcycle struck a car, causing a six-mile traffic backup, according to the State Department of Transportation website.
via SeattleTimes
Maybe they could consider installing some yellow or red lights in the roadway along the Link tracks at intersections, similar to what’s done at some pedestrian crossings. The links could come on (or blink) whenever a train is approaching and the “no left turn” sign is lit just to make it even more obvious that drivers shouldn’t turn.
Something like these.