Phoenix Light Rail Marks First Crash With Vehicle Since Opening to Passengers

Uh-oh. The light rail system has been operating with passengers for just four days and it's already been involved in a vehicle collision.

That doesn't seem to bode well for the on-street system, which logged another minor accident earlier this month during its test phase. Whether the accident rate will pick up remains to be seen. Valley Metro has studied safety from other cities that had to learn the hard way, like Houston and Los Angeles, but knowing the Valley's drivers like we do, it's obvious some folks are going to get creamed.

Today's accident was a hit-and-run -- the driver fled the scene after colliding with the train, leaving passengers stuck for a while until police arrived.

What these trains need is a good cattle guard, like that in the example at left. -- Ray Stern