Blind man hit by train in good condition

Adair Smith, the blind man who was hit by a MetroRail train downtown yesterday, is in good condition. Witnesses said he was apparently disoriented when he walked in front of the train at Main and Lamar:

Downtown worker Bob Broxson said he was standing on the east side of Main at Lamar when he saw the man try to cross toward him. Trains were approaching in both directions and sounding their whistles, Broxson said.

"There was a lady ... yelling for him to stop," Broxson said. ''He started feeling around urgently with his cane trying to figure out where he was." No one was near enough to pull him back, Broxson said.

The operator of the southbound train apparently hit the brakes, bringing the train to a stop about 15 feet past the collision site, Broxson said. "It wasn't the train's fault," he said.

Smith spends most of his time at the downtown location of the Lighthouse of Houston, an agency that helps the blind. Lighthouse officials said Smith has "very good orientation and motor skills" and knows his way around downtown, but probably got confused somehow while he was crossing Main.

Smith's bump was the second of three MetroRail accidents in the first four days of 2006. The first happened Tuesday evening when a driver ran a traffic signal and turned in front of the train at Main and Walker. The third, on Wednesday evening, happened when a train hit a car in a left-turn lane in the Medical Center and pushed it into another car. Both vehicles were in the turn lane despite signals that told them not to be.