Caught on tape: Drivers collide with Valley's light rail

PHOENIX - Simple mistakes and disregard for traffic signs posted near the Valley’s twenty-mile light rail account for most of the collisions recorded during its first year of service.

Metro Light Rail documented fifty-five accidents involving a variety of vehicles and drivers including professional cabbies, city bus drivers, and at least one hotel van driver.

The ABC15 investigators uncovered many of the drivers made the same, avoidable mistakes and at least 11 percent of the accidents happened at the same Phoenix intersection, 1st Avenue and Washington.

According to light rail collision logs and various police reports, none of the accidents was the fault of light rail operators, but damages totaled $486,783.26. Metro Light Rail was able to recover $341,836.65, but is still waiting for at-fault drivers to pay for $104,080.27 in damages.

“We feel confident that we have a leg to stand on – that we will get the monies owed to us,” said Hillary Foose, Metro Light Rail’s spokesperson, explaining that the process can take awhile.

She said there is one pending lawsuit involving light rail in which Metro Light Rail hired an outside attorney to help with the case.  A Metro Light Rail document indicates Metro Light Rail will never recover $40,866.34 because of hit-and-run accidents and drivers with inadequate or no insurance.

CRASH CAUSES

According to Foose, most drivers involved in light rail crashes have disregarded red lights.

“I never see the light,” said Daniel Patino, who was fired from his driver job at a Phoenix hotel after running a red light and striking a light rail train in a hotel van.

Patino, who said he had at least thirty years of driving experience, told ABC15 the train was very quiet, and he didn’t hear it when he approached Jefferson Street from 24th Street in Phoenix last July. He ran a red light.

“Now, it’s more confusing,” he said. “They’ve got to be more careful with everybody.”

At least 19 accidents happened as a result of improper right turns, and nearly half of the accidents, 23, resulted from someone making an improper left turn or U-turn.

“I know there’s been some level of confusion that the public has brought forward to us, and we continue to work through that, but I think at the end of the day it’s about being aware of your surroundings,” Foose said. “Particularly around the light rail tracks, we want you to be even more than aware than you would be even anywhere else.”

Foose said Metro Light Rail is working with a private traffic engineering consulting firm to evaluate crash data throughout Phoenix to help determine how to improve traffic and safety conditions along the route.

Although no changes have occurred since the analysis started, she said Metro Light Rail has made some changes to reduce the amount of time a driver would have to wait at a stop signal. She said this may prevent some impatient drivers from turning too early, risking an accident.

HEARING THE TRAIN

Some drivers are still getting used to driving along the light rail.

Albert Melonzon no longer drives a taxi after he made an illegal U-turn on Apache Blvd. Near Price Rd. in Tempe in July.

“I woke up in the ambulance and they were cutting me out of my clothes,” he said.

“I had seven broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a concussion,” he added, saying he never heard the light rail coming when he made his traffic mistake.

“You can’t really hear those whistles unless you’re standing there on the tracks…waiting for a train.”
Melonzon said a louder warning noise as well as barriers - like an arm or a gate between the light rail and the traffic - might’ve helped him avoid smashing his vehicle.

Alex Schmanski, a skateboarder who collided with the light rail, agreed the light rail is difficult to hear. Schmanski was riding his longboard traveling south on the west side of Rural when he was struck by the train.

He said he was crossing the street when the traffic signal showed a red hand indicating a pedestrian should not walk across the crosswalk.

“The light was green. I had my headphones on,” he said. “I couldn’t really hear much, but I thought I would hear the bell ringing from the train, but I didn’t.”

Foose said the light rail operators actually honk their horns less frequently now compared to the start of the service. Back then, neighbors who lived near the light rail complained about too much noise.

“If you talk to the operations folks, they’d love to run the horn all day long,” said Foose, “but we also have to be good neighbors.”

LIGHT RAIL SIGNS AND SIGNALS

In Arizona, some drivers say more clear signs would help them make better decisions.

“It’s true you could put out all the signs in the world and people will still not see them, but some people will see them,” said Kathleen Birtciel, who crashed her vehicle at 1st Avenue and Washington St. in November when she turned right from a non-turn lane.

The Phoenix intersection has had more crashes – six in total - than any other intersection since the start of the light rail service.

“If it’s a busy day that the cars are blocking the view of what the kind of information that you need, and if you’re pulled up to the front you can’t see anything,” she said, explaining the intersection where she collided with the light rail.

Foose said Metro Light Rail regularly discusses the possibility of enhancing the signs and signals surrounding light rail.

“We do have those discussions about how can we maybe enhance the level of signage, attract more attention to the signals,” she said. “It’s a balancing act because you certainly don’t want to overload people with a bunch of signage because then they start ignoring it anyway.”

“You want the signage to be important, you want it to be pertinent, you want it to be relevant,” she added.

Foose said the safety study should be completed within weeks. At that time, Metro Light Rail will consider potential strategies and the costs enhancing safety throughout the Valley.

To see the details of light rail accidents during its first year of service, use the drop down menu below to search by Valley area.