Trams are very safe, and even if you are motorist and hit by one, the tram driver will have probably already applied emergency brakes. It is rare for the tram driver to be at fault when trams and cars collide. I assume it is still in the road laws that you must give way to trams at all times.
I would guess most tram versus cars/vans/trucks happen when a motorist makes a 'U turn' in front of a tram. The plaintive wail will go out, 'I didn't see the tram'. Yeah, right, this great big vehicle carrying up to 200 passengers. What happened was they did think to check if there was a tram travelling along tram tracks. Who would have thought? Next crash results might be failing to give way to a tram at a roundabout.
I've never been a passenger on a tram where it has been in an accident.
Maybe I've used some of these photos before, but no matter. I want to clear the folder. It would be nice to credit the recent photos, but they just appeared at some point without a credit.
McMahons Point, Sydney. This was a bad one, as I recall. People were deaded.
Flinders and Swanston Streets, Melbourne. A brake failure, as I recall.
While in black and white, it is not a very old photos.
Nothing to see here, except for a tram on fire. I think our fire department are taught how to deal with train and tram fires, needed because of the electrics.
Tram only signs completely ignored did not result in smooth city driving.
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Rules of the road do matter.
ReplyDeleteThey do indeed, Deb.
DeleteHow can you miss a tram? They're big!
ReplyDeleteJB, they are indeed. Often colourful and always with lights on.
DeleteHow people miss seeing them is a mystery, Andrew.
ReplyDeletePat, I suppose it is much the same in your city too.
DeleteWe have had a few accidents involving our trams. And yes, the drivers and pedestrians were at fault. Our trams are bright red and hard to miss seeing.
ReplyDeleteEC, they are bright. I have seen a video of your trams in near misses. Some were overly alarmist but a couple were very serious.
DeleteThe stupidity of motorists never ceases to baffle me. Here we have jokes all the time when the first snow arrives and they'll go out on the highway with no snow tires on and cause massive pileups called "annual meetups of the No Snowtires Club" with photos in the paper and on line.
ReplyDeleteLast time I was on a tram was in San Francisco. Love them.
XO
WWW
WWW, I loved the name coined for the idiots with snow tyres. I would have though your last tram would have been Toronto.
DeleteNow I'm hearing the brilliant public service announcement from the Australian Metro department, "Dumb Ways to Die". In fact, I sang that title line today to my husband. lol The video is as unforgettable as the lyrics. Stay safe around trains (~grin~) and best wishes.
ReplyDeleteDarla, I don't know how it was judged but apparently it was an incredibly successful campaign.
DeleteWe had an accident here a few months ago, semi truck versus train. Knocked the train right off the rails.
ReplyDeletePixie, it take a very solid and heavy truck to derail a train. Trucks in your country and that one down south of yours seem to have many truck v. train incidents. Truck trailers seem to bottom out when crossing railway tracks.
DeleteI love Melbourne trams, I was on one nearly every day for 50 years until I moved out to the s/e suburbs. It is now buses and they are quite scary, I never feel as safe as I did on a tram.
ReplyDeleteJ, I don't mind buses but trams are much better, especially when driven smoothly, which is not always the case.
DeleteI love Melbourne trams also.
ReplyDeleteCars, buses and pedestrians can move around randomly but the tram tracks have been fixed in the ground for 100+ years. Noone can say "I had no idea about the trams there. It was a terrible shock when I hit that tram".
Exactly Hels. People just have to remember that tram tracks mean trams, and they need to check for trams.
DeleteThis is a great series of tram accident photos! I experienced tram accident once when a bike hit the tram sideway in an intersection
ReplyDeleteI saw similar from my balcony recently Roentare. He was hard to understand did not see the turning tram. Fortunately he seemed ok.
DeleteI wasn't aware of how much trams share the roads with cars where you are.
ReplyDeleteKIrk, our system is a legacy system. That is it the original beginning in the late 1800s. It has been extended but not much of late. And yes, there is a lot of mix with traffic, which makes them more unreliable.
DeleteNow that I am driving on tram routes I am suddenly very aware of them.
ReplyDeleteFun60, I think it is pretty well isolated from car traffic, isn't it? The Croydon tram will always be known to me for the tragic crash several years ago.
DeleteIn today world here in the United States if any public transportation is involved in an accident. The crew has to take drug and alcohol test. Depending on the results the insurance may or may not cover the cost of the accident. Or possible only part of it.
ReplyDeleteDo they test the crew there?
Dora, if anyone is injured, staff will be alcohol tested. I am not sure if they drug tested....I think they are nowadays.
DeleteWe don't have trams where I am at, but there have been a lot of train collisions with cars. People put the blame on the fact that some crossings don't have the gates, but honestly, how can you not notice a train?
ReplyDeleteDebby, even without gates or booms, surely there are flashing red lights and bells etc.
DeleteThe trains blare their horns as they approach the crossing, and every crossing I have seen does have flashing lights. I really don't understand how they can miss it. There was a situation where a police officer stopped on a track with a prisoner in the back. A train was coming. They leapt from the car and left the prisoner trapped in the back seat.
DeleteSelf preservation kicked in, I suppose.
DeleteThose forst two carshes look really bad. The car on the tram line looks more like an OBahn bus rail, like we have here and stupid people here drive onto it not realising it isn't a road? Well that's their excuse most of the time, "we was just followin' the bus Offisher"
ReplyDeleteRiver, yes, I've heard about that. Lol at Offisher. Refer yesterday's post.
DeleteAlso trams are a bit dangerous to pedestrians. When in Manchester the trams seem so silent but of course Manchester mayor is trying to get rid of cars in the city as well. There is talk of more trams in the district.
ReplyDeleteThelma, having used Manchester trams, they are not silent at all. They sound like every other tram around the world. Notwithstanding Gaudi, very few people die by being hit by a tram. With Melbourne having the largest tram system in the world, operating with cars and pedestrians for most of its track length, I think it would be a couple of decades since someone has been hit by a tram and died.
DeleteAfter seeing your horrifying gallery, I am never getting on another tram again. In Sheffield we have our modern "Supertram" system but the coverage is not comprehensive and there are no tracks in our part of the city.
ReplyDeleteYP, your very long lane to the city should have a tram to give you direct travel to town.
DeleteDrivers of trucks and cars etc just don't look, always will be the same.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, so true.
DeleteIf they didn't see that - should they even be driving?
ReplyDeleteTP, we would empty our roads if we worried about people not seeing things.
DeleteA bit off topic, but have you seen the Netflix show "Departure"? It's an OK show, a sort of crime procedural based on transportation. The second season is all about a bullet train crash. You might like it.
ReplyDeleteI haven't Steve, and it does pique my interest. Thanks.
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