The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System earned the top safety award from the American Public Transportation Association for its successful “Anticipate-Recognize-Take Action! (ART)” campaign that eliminated Trolley accidents involving illegal left turns by downtown motorists. The award was announced today at APTA’s annual rail conference in Denver, Colorado. This is the third safety award MTS has won in the last four years.
“Being recognized at the national level is great, but eliminating Trolley accidents speaks volumes about our commitment to safety,” said Paul Jablonski, MTS chief executive officer. “Downtown is a growing community and the ART campaign is a remarkable success. MTS Trolley operators should take pride in this accomplishment, as should our Rail safety department. They proactively identified the challenges, developed a comprehensive training program and worked collaboratively to get positive results.”
In the 19 months prior to the ART campaign, there were 10 accidents involving Trolleys and motorists making illegal left turns at eight identified intersections on C Street and Park Blvd. In the 17 months after implementation, accidents were reduced to zero. Other results included:
- 35 percent reduction in accidents system-wide
- 7 percent reduction in emergency brake applications
- 5 accident-free months
- 78 days accident-free between November 2017 and January 2018
MTS developed a two-pronged approach aimed at reducing these collisions for the 350 daily trains that move through San Diego’s downtown core:
- Installing lane delineators and eye-level signs at eight high-incident intersections along Park Boulevard and C Street
- Implementing a defensive driving program for train operators focused on the downtown core
Key elements of operator training included:
- Requiring all operators to participate in walk-throughs of high-incident downtown intersections
- Implementing LiDAR technology into classroom training. LiDAR is similar to Google Street View. It provides panoramic views from on-the-ground positions on downtown San Diego’s streets from MTS tracks
- Looping videos and photos of trouble spots on common area video screens
- “Rule of the Week” memos to reinforce safe operating techniques in the downtown core
