Swing gates, which pedestrians have to pull back, rather than push forward, have been installed at some stations. The sound of the horn has been changed. So-called "T-signals," which signal train operators, are being replaced because some motorists were confused and thought the T meant turn.
Trials are underway with street barrier gates that block all four lanes of traffic at intersections, rather than the conventional practice of two. More and more video systems are being added to intersections so that scofflaws can be photographed running red lights, tracked down and prosecuted.
MTA executives are also working with Union Pacific, which runs long freight trains parallel to the Blue Line tracks. Accidents are often caused by people trying to get around the freight trains, only to walk or drive into an oncoming Blue Line train.
The MTA has "gone well beyond" the safety requirements of regulatory agencies, said Lou Hubaud, a career MTA executive with responsibility for Blue Line safety. "This agency has gone way out there in reaching to the public to make it safer for them. We have done more than anyone in the country to make grade crossings safer."
There is some evidence that the steps may be paying off.
In 1998, there were 10 fatalities involving Blue Line trains. This year, there have been four.
But critics say the MTA is not doing enough.
Even four deaths, they say, should be a red flag. During the five-year period from 1994 to the end of 1998, light-rail lines in Sacramento and Santa Clara County reported only two deaths between them to the PUC. Last year, San Francisco's rail system, despite running more than twice the passenger miles as Los Angeles' system, had three pedestrian and motor vehicle related deaths, according to commission records.
Similar differences exist nationally, although voluntary reporting to the Federal Transit Administration by cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis and Salt Lake City appears to be less exacting than that required by the PUC.
Critics believe that slowing down the trains and creating more grade separations, meaning raising the tracks above or burying them below street level, would help.
"You need to be looking at grade separations," said Wendell Cox, a national transportation consultant who was a member of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission from 1977 to 1985 when much of the planning for the Blue Line occurred. "It's not fair to blame motorists. It's a terrible cop-out to blame pedestrians or kids, to say they were at fault."
