According to a recent piece in the Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tobar-20120608,0,2603929.column, Compton has had more than 114 people killed by trains that run on the city’s ever expanding metro rail. Since the trains run above ground and cross countless busy streets and intersections in the Compton area, the risk for pedestrian accidents and train-vehicle accidents is extremely high. Furthermore, the Artesia station for the Blue Line that runs into Compton and South Central LA is described as a “Third World train station” by the Times writer Hector Tobar: the station is surrounded by high fences wrapped in barbed wire. One entrance to the station has been locked which forces some riders to walk nearly two miles to reach the station. Many of them jump the fence and risk injury or death because walking the extra distance is such a massive inconvenience.
Of the many pedestrian accidents that happen throughout Los Angeles a huge concentration of them take place near this one metro station. With the interaction of pedestrians, bicyclists, trucks, trains, motorcycles, city buses and other vehicles, the incidents of accidents related to the Los Angeles metro trains will continue to rise in Compton and throughout the Southland. Precautions, warning signs and reasonable expectation of convenience need to be prioritized for all people who travel near and on the metro rail.
