Accidents and fatalities up on the Blue Line, after a three-year lull

Flickr via fredcamino

The Blue Line has seen an "uptick" in fatalities this year, officials say.

Los Angeles’ Blue Line has the distinction of being the first light-rail in the nation, running between downtown L.A. and Long Beach. It also has a checkered safety record, with an average of fifty-one accidents during its first twelve years of operation (1990-2002.)

For the last decade, the numbers have been relatively low, but statistics from the first half of this year show a disturbing increase: twenty-two accidents and six fatalities, four of which were ruled suicide. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, also a Metro board member, described the accident record as an “open sore” to the Los Angeles Times, and stated that it is “long past time to take a look at what’s going on.”