SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News)- The number of people who are using U.T.A's TRAX trains are on the rise however so are the accidents. A spokesman for the agency says most of the accidents are happening when people are distracted or simply just not paying attention.
The recent rash of accidents were highlighted after a child was almost run over by a train Monday morning. This accident comes on the heels of the highest accident rate for Trax in recent years.
U.T.A. spokesman, Gerry Carpenter does not know why the numbers are so high, and believe it could just be a statistical anomaly. Carpenter said they've put up signs to warn commuters and design the system as safe as possible, “We have seen an up tick this year,” Carpenter said. Most accidents occur near the downtown platforms.
In fact, in the past eight months there have been three deaths by train; one of which was a bicyclist accident in July, and a car crash in March that killed two people.
According to numbers from UTA, it appears people are also getting injured by running into trains, injuries are up by 30%.
“Over half the incidents involve people making a left hand turn in front of the train,” Carpenter said and continued, “people are not being cautious around the train tracks.” Hopefully people will understand the importance of being cautious, so this percentage does not rise even more.
