Experts say the numbers speak for themselves.
The amount of people killed last year in automobile crashes in Maryland: 614.
The number who died last year in train crashes: Zero.
“There were no deaths related to any criminal activity or accidents regarding our trains last year,” said Lt. Col. John E. Gavrilis, deputy chief of police of the Maryland Transit Administration.
Despite the recent terrorist attacks on trains in Bombay, Madrid and London, experts say passengers shouldn?t fear boarding the state?s MARC trains or light rails.
“Terrorism is scary to people, but when you look at the probabilities, any public transportation mode is safer than those driven by private drivers,” said Paul Schonfeld, professor of civil engineering at the University of Maryland.
“Buses are quite safe; trains are quite safe; airlines are quite safe statistically. The greatest danger is when you are driving in your own car with very unprofessional and potentially impaired drivers around you,” he said.
Steven David, professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, said terrorists sometimes target trains, but that?s no reason to avoid using public transportation.
“Train travel is especially vulnerable to this type of assault,” he said. “It provides large targets and large amounts of people, and it?s nearly impossible to prevent. Having said that, I would not feel afraid to ride on trains. Bad things happen, but we choose to live our lives not paralyzed by fear.”
Sheron Wicker, a spokeswoman for the MTA, said the organization conducts sweeps of their stations on a routine basis since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“We did it … to enhance the ability to prevent, respond and recover from a terrorist event,” she said.
The MTA also has increased its police presence in response to this week?s attacks in Bombay, which killed about 200 people and injured 700.
Gavrilis said the MTA has more than 200 plainclothes police officers who ride its trains routinely, uses closed-circuittelevision cameras and implements the best terrorist-prevention techniques from around the world.
“People should absolutely not be afraid to ride public transportation,” he said. “We have a very safe system.”
