17-year-old hit by light rail train on MLK Jr. Way Seattle Times The accident occurred at about 4:30 pm at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and South Graham Street, said Ron Griffin, chief of Sound Transit ... and more »

A driver and his passenger sustained minor injuries this morning when they were hit trying to make a left turn against the light in front of a light-rail train. According to Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray, the accident happened about 11 a.m. when the car – heading north on Martin Luther King Jr. Way – [...]

Good to know that all it takes to change a stupid security policy is to wait for someone to be beaten within an inch of their life, THEN change the policy. How about figuring it out AHEAD of time, so the public is protected?

Doesn’t Seattle remember Kristopher Kime (click here, or here), who was murdered in the sight of the Seattle police in 2001? Weren’t we going to learn from that travesty?

The Seattle Times reports (click here):

“The way Metro uses Olympic guards is similar to Sound Transit’s contract with Securitas, whose unarmed guards are paid $16 to $18 an hour to conduct fare enforcement and to patrol transit stations. Sound Transit’s policies, however, anticipate they’ll sometimes intervene:

“When faced with a clear and immediate threat of bodily harm, the Security Officer must always first consider retreating with any other people present to a secure position. When necessary to protect self and others from a clear and immediate threat of bodily harm, a Security Officer must use only the degree of force necessary to repel an attack or threat of an attack.”

Love this statement:

“After several crimes on Portland rail lines — including the beating of a 71-year-old man with a baseball bat at a suburban station — officials doubled the transit police from 28 officers to 58 during 2008-09, and crimes decreased, according to an Oregonian newspaper report.”

Ya think?

Last Saturday I went over 520 to Seattle at around 9:30AM & returned going Eastbound around noon. The eagle pair were there at both times hunting- one was perching on the north metal sculpture, the other, on the lamppost nearest the sculpture.

Why, I wonder, does environmental law only protect where an endangered species nests, and not where the species hunts? Doesn’t the availability of their food source impact  a species as much as where to nest?

All this is because I’m wondering how WSDOT & SDOT & Sound Transit & the cities of Seattle & Bellevue will mitigate impacts to the wildlife living in the Arboretum when redevelopment of the 520 bridge happens….thoughts?

Update: I’ve seen other info re: the eagle pair hunting from the 520 bridge:

1. “Eagle Eyes on the 520 Bridge”- http://blogs.king5.com/archives/2009/03/eagleeyes-on-th.html

2. WSDOT SR 520 DEIS- http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/5969A3E2-01E1-4000-8F80-F18D006CEE7/0/SR520DEIS_AppendixWPart2.pdf

3. Northwest Cable News by Deborah Feldman- http://www.nwcn.com/archive/61211932.html

Have you noticed that on sunny days, there are at least 2 Bald Eagles that hunt in the Arboretum and perch on the sculptures along side the freeway?

When the eagles aren’t there, the Blue Herons do the same, or stand in the water along side the beaver lodge. Turtles bask in the sun on the logs to the west of the stand of trees (when you’re coming from east to west). Loons and grebes and numerous other birds nest and hunt in the area.

Seattle PI reporter Deborah Harrell reported about stakeholders’ concerns re: the 520 redesign, and I’m wondering- how will the new design mitigate for the existing wildlife, some of which are protected species?

Sound Transit train and car collide in Seattle Seattle Times A man was injured late this afternoon when a Sound Transit light-rail train and a car collided at Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and South Myrtle Street. ... and more »

Motorist injured in crash with Light Rail train KING5.com Sound Transit has added many additional signals for drivers along the Light Rail path. Sound Transit Light Rail will start passenger service in 19 days. and more »

WA motorist injured in crash with light-rail train TheNewsTribune.com ; AP A Sound Transit light-rail train has collided with a car in Seattle's Rainier Valley neighborhood, sending a motorist to a hospital with ... and more »

Car hits Sound Transit train, one injured Seattle Post Intelligencer Will Sound Transit file a claim with the at fault driver's insurance company? The learning curve begins for driving around light rail trains. ... and more »

Well, here we go again… Apparently there has been another accident between a light rail train, and a car in the Rainier Valley with Sound Transit’s at-grade light rail alignment.

This should not surprise anyone who has been following light rail projects across the nation. One alignment has even been dubbed the “Wham-Bam-Tram” because of the numerous accidents it has been involved in. Most of them were caused by the same movement by the driver- a left hand turn taken IN FRONT of the train. Is that legal or wise? NO. Is that predictable? YES.

Some Draconian posters on other blogs have  made comments about Darwin, natural selection, and the intelligence levels of the folks who get into these accidents, but the fact is that utilizing an at grade alignment sets up the conditions for terrible accidents and very possibly, deaths.

We hope not. And we hope that Sound Transit will learn from their mistakes going forward on ST2 from the mistakes made by the other light rail systems throughout the country, and  do a better job of making the ST2 alignments safe…

See our posts on  previous Sound Transit light rail accidents HERE and HERE…