The Wham-Bam-Tram Ram Counter celebrates Houston's "World Class" (snicker) light rail system that is reducing traffic in Houston, by taking cars off the roads - one crash at a time.

In late October of 2004, the City of Houston, through the METRO transit authority, inaugurated a light rail system that they told Houstonians, would make Houston a "World Class" city. Unfortunately, they didn't define "World Class". The result was a financial and engineering boondoggle that, due to its abysmal crash record, is becoming better known by a series of less than flattering nicknames like, the "Wham-Bam-Tram", the "Streetcar Named Disaster", the "Danger Train" and more recently, the "Death Train", than by its innocuous sounding official designation of "MetroRail".

You may find it hard to believe, but this tram that only averages about 12 miles per hour and runs on a route that is only 7.5 miles from end to end, has racked up a crash total much worse than light rail systems that are 10 times longer. But, with a "crashes per route-mile" record of almost 20 times the national average and well over 10 times the previous worst crash record, the Wham-Bam-Tram can now rightfully claim its "World Class" status. After all, it holds a "World's Record".

This widget pulls data from the most accurate tally available, of Wham-Bam-Tram crashes, the official Wham-Bam-Tram Ram Counter, that can be found on the ActionAmerica.org, Houston Page. That page contains links to either media reports or to data obtained from Metro, through the Freedom Of Information Act, concerning each crash. Multiple sources are required, because even Metro does not list all of the crashes. As a result of this tendency by Metro and a complicit media, to hide this data, there is a strong liklihood that the true crash total is higher than even this combined crash tally would indicate and that there are probably more than a few crashes that have not been documented anywhere or are at least, well hidden. Even so, this counter remains the most accurate total of documented crashes available to the public.