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Police Remind Drivers to Stop for Streetcar Riders

Posted by Eugene / July 18, 2007

24 Comments

20070718_streetcar.JPGAlmost every regular streetcar patron has a story of an exiting rider and an unobservant driver.

Last winter, I saw a kid getting off at College on the Bathurst car. When I glanced up the road, I saw a car barreling up the street without slowing down. Fortunately, a rider standing behind the kid also noticed the car and pulled him back to safety by his backpack. The car only grazed a trumpet case the kid was carrying. The driver hit the brakes a few feet ahead, paused for a second, and sped off.

And that was only a close call. One person every month gets it much worse by being hit while leaving a streetcar! A one-week TTC blitz started this Monday is reminding drivers that going past an open streetcar door (you know, that door with a STOP sign on it!) can get a $100 fine and 3 demerit points.

I hope the blitz does some good but my guess is we're not going to see any reduction in the over 100 drivers that daily pass streetcars illegally. I'm a pretty hard-core pedestrian and I'm all for laying the blame on certain moron motorists, but ever since I moved here the idea of getting off of a streetcar in the middle of a busy street seemed a bit risky and not that logical for both transit riders and motorists.

With the largest streetcar system in North America, the idea of having a safe island platform for every stop, or some other more permanent solution, is probably not happening just yet.

Photo: sjgardiner from the blogTO Flickr pool

Discussion

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Ryan / July 18, 2007 at 11:16 am
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<p>If drivers don&#39;t want to deal with stopping behind streetcars, they should stick to the roads without streetcar routes.&nbsp; Plain and simple.&nbsp; If you&#39;re driving on a street that has tracks, it should be an automatic reaction to watch for streetcars letting people off, like it (usually) is for school busses letting children off.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;The problem is drivers forget that they have to stop for streetcars.&nbsp; It&#39;s just not something that everyone deals with on a daily basis, especially if they haven&#39;t lived in the city for long.&nbsp; With everything going on on a crowded downtown street (cyclists, pedestrians, other cars, flashy signs, etc), the tiny stop signs on the street car doors just don&#39;t cut it.&nbsp; Awareness needs to be raised.&nbsp; It should also be manditory for driving courses and tests in the GTA to touch on streetcar safety. </p>
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Arnon Clark / July 18, 2007 at 11:19 am
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<p>I make it a point to accost drivers that do so at every opportunity. If they get stopped at the next light, I will run over to their cars, knock politely at their windows, and then (after checking to make sure they live in Toronto or the encirons - tourists are likely unfamiliar with the rules) remind them of the laws and advise them quite bluntly that people CAN get hurt by their actions...including themselves. </p><p>&nbsp;My hope is that, if the threat of fines and demerits aren&#39;t sufficient, and the threat to others&#39; safety not important, the threat to themselves might still do some good as a deterrent.</p>
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SH / July 18, 2007 at 11:37 am
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<p>I wonder if the majority of these drivers that are hitting people getting off streetcars are visitors to the city.&nbsp; To be honest the warnings are not that obvious and even if you are a native Torontonian, if you come from a part of the city that doesn&#39;t have streetcars it can be easily forgotten.&nbsp; In my case, I live near the West end of the 501 streetcar, once you get to Etobicoke most of the stops on the Lakeshore have platforms, but then they abruptly stop, and then start up again, and then stop again.&nbsp; Very irritating for a driver because the streetcar stops are not obvious either, so you don&#39;t know when the streetcar may stop and passengers are alighting.</p><p>Perhaps having more obvious streetcar stop signs for drivers and maybe even flashing lights like on a schoolbus (though that may be a bit excessive, but fun!) would aid the situation a bit.</p>
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Steve / July 18, 2007 at 11:52 am
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<p><em>reminding drivers that going past an open streetcar door (you know, that door with a STOP sign on it!) can get a $100 fine and 3 demerit points.</em></p><p>It&#39;s too bad it has to be, &quot;Oh, I need to stop, I don&#39;t want to get a hundred dollar fine and 3 demerits.&quot;&nbsp; When it should be, &quot;I should stop because I don&#39;t want to hit/maim/kill another human being&quot;.&nbsp; Apparently to some, the thought of losing $100 is worse than&nbsp; vehicular manslaughter.</p>
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Thomas / July 18, 2007 at 12:01 pm
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<p>Although I feel it&#39;s inexcusable for driver&#39;s to barrel past the opening doors of a streetcar (I see it almost every day), as mentioned above I think part of the problem is likely the unfamiliarity of the drivers and the fact that the stop signs on the doors are quite small.&nbsp; I think the TTC needs to implement a much larger sign on the back of the streetcar (akin to the Yield signs on buses) telling drivers to stop behind the streetcar when the doors are open.</p>
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Adam / July 18, 2007 at 12:11 pm
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<p>You guys nailed it. The signs are just too inconspicuous, especially considering that they&#39;re using a red/white sign against a red/white car. There&#39;s a reason why school busses are yellow, after all.</p><p>If the city and police are serious about reducing the number of pedestrians being mowed down by cars, then they shouldn&#39;t be pursuing a purely reactionary tactic like this. I&#39;d argue that they are preventing nothing in handing out tickets/fines, just in the same way the police cameras prevent nothing.</p><p>Fine the drivers now, but maybe divert some of that money accumulated into some plainly visible stop signs.&nbsp;</p>
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Mark Dowling / July 18, 2007 at 12:16 pm
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<p>I have to admit I was once pulled over by a cop for overtaking a streetcar at night at Yonge/Queen - I was new to the city and hadn&#39;t driven anywhere with streetcars before. &nbsp;I had realised my mistake when abreast of the streetcar but the cop had already spotted me. &nbsp;Since I was an obvious noob he let me go with a warning - fortunately so because fines are doubled downtown.</p><p>I think there should be blinking lights on streetcar doors as a visual cue when they are open to supplement the unlit stop signs. &nbsp;Damn - should have thought of that at the Dundas Square LRV consultation...</p>
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Kari / July 18, 2007 at 12:22 pm
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<p>The streetcars that I&#39;ve seen lately (King and Queen lines) have HUGE signs on the back letting people know they have to stop, but they&#39;re not as brightly coloured as they probably should be. Lights would be good, I think, like on school buses.</p><p>I think a lot of the people not stopping are tourists. People not from the city are mostly terrified of driving here. It is a bit overwhelming. Ignorance is no excuse, though.&nbsp; </p><p>And don&#39;t forget... cyclists need to stop for streetcars, too! Bikers will be fined the same as drivers, should they fail to follow the rules. &nbsp; </p>
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Gloria / July 18, 2007 at 12:50 pm
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Kari makes a good point. One newspaper mentioned an incident where an elderly man was struck by a cyclist, and as he fell, struck his head on the sidewalk edge; he died later on. So it&#39;s not only driver-pedestrian collisions that cause fatal injuries.
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Alison / July 18, 2007 at 01:16 pm
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<p>I agree 100% with everything everyone&#39;s said up to here.</p><p>That being said, I think some of the responsibility also lies with the person exiting the streetcar. Yes, it&#39;s legall the driver&#39;s responsibility, but like SH said, sometimes it&#39;s hard to tell where the streetcar will stop. Too many times I&#39;ve seen someone run out of the back doors the instant they open without taking a second to make sure that the cars/bikes have had a chance to see the streetcar stopping and stop themselves. There&#39;s a reason you&#39;re not supposed to step down into the stairs until the streetcar&#39;s stopped - it gives an extra second for a vehicle to stop before you&#39;re on their hood!</p><p>(Don&#39;t get me wrong, I understand that most of the problem is people not stopping, but I personally like to take my safety into my own hands) </p>
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Adam / July 18, 2007 at 01:35 pm
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<p>Great point, Alison. I wouldn&#39;t cross the street without looking both ways, so it shouldn&#39;t be any different when walking out into the middle of a busy street with lots of impatient drivers waiting behind. </p><p>There&#39;s signs to warn passengers to that effect, but as is routinely the case with signs, they&#39;re often ignored because there&#39;s so many of them inside the car.&nbsp;</p><p>I like the idea of lights, too! </p>
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JB / July 18, 2007 at 01:40 pm
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I like streetcars in general but I think there are a lot of flaws in its passenger unload system. A few simple solutions that may make it easier and safer everyone - just ideas,? maybe has a lot of flaws, but who knows?<div>- many streetcar stops are at streetlights --&gt; why not refrain from opening the streetcar doors until the light goes red? / Install blinking &#39;crossing type&#39; street signage above the driving lane that goes through the passenger-unload area</div><div>- streetcars may just stand there for dozens of seconds or even minutes before &#39;surprise&#39; the doors open up - and unloading passengers just stream off the car at the same moment as the doors open - therefore no warning to cars -- why not have safety arms that open up before the doors open up - like school bus safety arms?</div><div>- install passenger islands like spadina and st. clair</div><div>... just a few simple solutions that help the passengers, ttc drivers, and car drivers all understand what is going on..</div>
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stef / July 18, 2007 at 02:01 pm
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<p>I think there are some great ideas posted here. Howeer, while I am all for improving the TTC and Toronto roads in general, communters, drivers, public transit riders all alike need to realize that the money just is not there. So, what are the solutions that won&#39;t cost money? Open your eyes, pay attention, slow down when you&#39;re driving, stop when the doors for the street car are open and if you are a cyclists, stop (or at least slow down!), and if you are a transit rider start saying &#39;look both ways before crossing&#39; instead of barrelling out into the street.</p><p>Maybe we need to stop relying on others for our personal safety and starting counting on ourselves to be more aware.</p>
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Lori Kong / July 18, 2007 at 02:24 pm
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">The fact that the driver only paused for a moment before speeding off again is what disturbs me the most! <span>&nbsp;</span>That goes to show how ignorant some people are to the safety of others. <span>&nbsp;</span>I&rsquo;m glad for the kid who survived this and I applaud the biker who noticed the car and prevented a potential accident.<span>&nbsp; </span>Though I&rsquo;m convinced that there are still too many crazies out there who got their licenses from Cracker Jack boxes&hellip; I can&rsquo;t help but agree with Stef. <span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Sometimes you just gotta look out for #1 and remember to look both ways before crossing.</span>
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Sameer Vasta / July 18, 2007 at 02:42 pm
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<p>As an occasional downtown driver, I&#39;ve seen my fair share of fellow drivers darting past the open doors of a streetcar, most of them trying to get around the streetcar so they don&#39;t get stuck behind it.&nbsp; Personally, I&#39;m happy sitting behind the streetcar my whole trip, but I can understand how it may irk some people.</p><p>One of the biggest problems is that when cars are parked on the streets, there is essentially only one lane where people can drive, and they share that lane with the streetcar.&nbsp; People are then forced to try and dart around streetcars just before the doors open or immediately after they close in order to pass the vehicle.&nbsp; Perhaps a revamp of street parking on major streets in Toronto is necessary? </p>
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aidan / July 18, 2007 at 03:01 pm
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<p>I love streetcars, but streetcars are a joke as used in this city: walking across a lane of traffic to enter/exit, no way for another to pass one slow or broken, they hold up car and even bicycle traffic, they do not get signal-priority. I worry that if Transit-City happens we&#39;ll get all of the inadequacies spread onto new lines.&nbsp; I shouldn&#39;t worry about getting Transit-City, despite recent announcements.</p><p>I would love to use the Bathurst, King and Queen streetcars, but no longer do, since I have more often got where I wanted to go faster walking.&nbsp; The solution to streetcar problems is to do what has been done on Spadina, but without on-street parking, with crossing tracks for detours, and signal-priority for streetcars. </p>
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Mark Dowling / July 18, 2007 at 03:17 pm
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<p>Alison - I think there are signs posted at streetcar doors to check before exiting.</p><p>Kari - &quot;Ignorance is no excuse, though.&quot;&nbsp; Really?&nbsp; On that basis we don&#39;t need signs at all.</p><p>&nbsp;JB - Signal control would allow streetcars to turn lights red while unloading.&nbsp; Unfortunately Toronto Road Department claims the world will end if the system is fully turned on. </p>
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Jenny / July 18, 2007 at 03:43 pm
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They need barriers can come down - like train crossings.&nbsp; Nothing else will work.
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Jerrold / July 18, 2007 at 10:59 pm
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Dedicated streetcar lanes EVERYWHERE!
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Eric S. Smith / July 18, 2007 at 11:16 pm
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<p>What&#39;s this talk of drivers being surprised by a streetcar stopping?&nbsp; You don&#39;t accidentally overtake a stationary object, and for a motorist to claim otherwise is to affirm an experience of driving in which one is merely a passive victim of traffic.&nbsp; If they&#39;re not prepared to drive properly in light of the fact that their screwups can kill, they should be <em>riding</em> the streetcar, not pretending they don&#39;t notice it as they zip past.</p>
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rek / July 19, 2007 at 02:41 am
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It&#39;s only a $100 fine? That&#39;s it? What the hell!? It should be at least ten times that and come with a failure to stop or reckless driving charge!
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Steve / July 19, 2007 at 08:23 am
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<p>Agree with rek, $100 fine, we have higher fines for not wearing a seatbelt here.</p><p>It&#39;s just a shame that people need to be reminded to stop or watch for something like this...let&#39;s be honest, most (not all) people are on auto-pilot when they&#39;re driving, there&#39;s a lot of people who need to pay more attention. Granted, you should still be looking when exiting a street car, but maybe that&#39;s not an option or as easy for some (blind, disabled, elderly).&nbsp;What if you misstep or trip on a step as you&#39;re exiting?</p><p>But again, if the potential for a vehicular manslaughter charge and living with hitting another human being isn&#39;t enough to make some people stop their fricken cars for a few seconds, I&#39;m not sure a hundred bucks will do it either.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p>Sniper rifles for the streetcar drivers : - )</p>
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Ry C / July 19, 2007 at 10:10 am
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<blockquote style="background-color: #ffcc99"><h1 align="right"><font color="#ff00ff"><strong><u><strike><em><br /></em></strike></u></strong></font></h1><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h1 align="right"><font><strong><u><strike><em><font color="#ff00ff"><strong><u><strike><em>What we need is a monorail</em></strike></u></strong></font></em></strike></u></strong></font></h1></blockquote>
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Gloria / July 19, 2007 at 12:23 pm
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I love badass streetcar drivers who, if they catch the car at a red light later or at the time, make a point of getting out and pointedly taking down their license plate. One streetcar driver even palpably snarled.
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