Driver runs over lady boarding streetcar

GTA Driver

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In Toronto, drivers are supposed to stop to allow street cars to drop off and pickup passengers. There are supposed to stop well back. I


I believe when the doors open, drivers are supposed to stop. From the vantage point of the cam car, its not clear if the doors opened before the lady started to the cross the road. We are taught as children to look before we cross. It does appears the car that hit the lady was going to fast, trying to fly past before passengers got on and off.
 
I don't like trams. I don't like how passengers have to cross a lane there to get on. I don't like people who undertake while ignoring the risks. I don't like pedestrians who walk into the road without checking it's safe first.

If only the world would see sense and conform to my standards, that accident wouldn't have happened! When will they learn? ;)
 
It is strange how trams always have to run in the middle of roads, and so people having to venture out there to get on / off the damn thing.

In Aarhus my birth town the new tram / light rail just pushed around with a Audi, no one hurt or anything but clearly the locals have not found a way to deal with the suckers.
But i an honestly surprised that there haven't been a spike in events over the summer where i assume more people venture into Aarhus thats not normally there,,,,,, maybe the Danes are smarter then what i have them pegged for.
 
The driver has been charged. From https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/video-driver-hits-pedestrian-boarding-streetcar-1.4807095
A driver has been charged after striking a female pedestrian with his car as she tried to board a streetcar, police say.
Const. Allan Davidson said a 21-year-old male was charged with careless driving in connection with the incident, which took place just before 5 p.m. on Thursday. The episode was caught on dashcam video by another driver.
The video shows an old-model streetcar driving east on Queen Street and making a stop at Parliament Street.
The streetcar stopped and two cars were seen passing in the right lane.
A third car, a grey sedan, comes racing down the same lane and struck a woman who had entered the street to board the streetcar through the front door.
Paramedics said they transferred the female patient to a local hospital with only minor injuries.


The cbc even included the video which it appears youtube has removed.
 
It seem with the new light rail in Aarhus you have actual stops, safe / elevated from traffic, some even seem like you get to them via a tunnel, so no running across traffic to catch the tram / train.

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Some stops also seem to be in relation to zebra crossings / intersections, so you can get out to where the damn thing stop in a safe manner.
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The light rail also go onto regular rail outside town to service the commuter towns as far out as 60 Km from downtown Aarhus.

Stage #1 in red + the other planned routes.
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No doubt some will still be running across traffic to catch the train, Danes are not smarter than anybody else, so some are probably going to pay a steep price.
 
In a perfect world trams, cars, large trucks, pedestrians, and bicyclists would all have their own separated 'roads' where nothing else would be there to upset traffic flow. Implementing that wod be almost impossible without wiping the land clean and starting over and the costs would be unbearable for even the richest nations. So with the ideal being unreachable, we are stuck with having to deal with upset traffic flows and all manner of vehicles sharing the same space.

Trams are good urban transportation for many people, which reduces the number of cars on the road thus benefitting everyone. The problem is with stops and boarding/deboarding them. Perhaps they need flashing lights and signals like school busses have, with clear rules about passing them when they are stopping, as well as limits on how long they can remain stopped to minimize interruptions for other road users. Seems simple enough to me.

It is good that the offending driver here has been charged with something, but I do not know how severe the punishment for the charges can be. IMHO it is close to arrempted manslaughter for totally ignoring a danger which was very easily seen and understood. The woman who was hurt could have easily been killed here. She might have dashed out without looking, but it is still a drivers responsibility to avoid hitting people doing that. I do hope this driver will be needing to use the tram for several years due to losing their license so they can experience their mistake from the other see of the coin and learn the value of being careful.

Phil
 
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