By Randy Appleton, Virginia FELA Attorney

After two months of service, The Tide, the new light rail in Norfolk, Virginia (VA), carries about 5,000 passengers each day. Due to more people using the system than predicted, the commuter line’s operator, Hampton Roads Transit, is planning on cutting about 21 percent of the lowest-ridership bus trips in January 2012. This will save HRT $4.2 million each year in bus operating costs. There has not been any decrease in riders of The Tide since opening.

Another positive benefit for Hampton Roads could be fewer stop-and-go traffic and traffic jams. But just because there are more people using light rail does not mean there will be fewer accidents. The Tide will not stop distracted driving or drunk driving, and mass transportation presents its own unique traffic problems and risks.

Some of these risks include increased traffic in and out of parking lots at the stations and falls that can occur when boarding or exiting from light rail cars. Furthermore, downtown drivers, who already share the road with pedestrians and bicyclists, now have to contend with Tide trains.  Experts believe this will inevitably lead to accidents.

I authored a blog last year detailing safety tips and precautions to consider when adjusting to The Tide. The benefits light rail promises to bring to Hampton Roads are welcome, but it is important to make sure we are all aware of The Tide’s potential risks.

OEA

About the Editors: The Virginia (Va) and Carolina based railroad/FELA injury attorneys at Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton have a long history of representing railroad workers in FELA and other railroad injury cases. Railroad/FELA personal injury lawyers at our firm have served as chairmen of the Railroad section of the American Association for Justice, the largest national victim’s injury attorney organization. One of our railroad injury/crossing attorneys wrote a major attorney’s encyclopedia section on railroad safety litigation, found in law libraries nationwide. Check out our railroad injury case results to see for yourself. Be sure to get your free reports about railroad injury, disease and wrongful death FELA cases: The Do’s and Don’ts When Injured at a Railroad — Yours FELA Rights and What Railroad Claim Agents Won’t Tell You (But You Must Know). Also, our railroad injury lawyers proudly moderate the Yardlimits Railroad Community Forum and donate to the Fallen Brother Fund.