Someone drove a car into the Queen's Quay streetcar tunnel again
The seemingly irresistible Queen's Quay streetcar tunnel drew another car into its sticky, well-marked trap this weekend, bringing the grand total of drivers who've made this mistake over the past four years to 25.
Yes, as TTC officials confirmed on Sunday, there have been 25 separate incidents of cars getting stuck on the tracks inside the Ferry Docks terminal at Queen's Quay W.and Bay St. since 2014.
The latest, logged early Sunday morning, involved a male driver in a silver Toyota with Quebec licence plates.
How many more flashing lights, rumble strips, signs, and poles does the TTC need to install at the entrance to the Queens Quay streetcar tunnel? https://t.co/43Bk6oIFWM
— Sean Marshall (@Sean_YYZ) March 11, 2018
Police say a car drove into the tunnel just after midnight, where it was lodged for approximately four hours, disrupting streetcar service until 4 a.m.
Both the 509 Harbourfront and 510 Spadina streetcars were forced to turn back at Queens Quay W. and Spadina Ave. as fire officials worked to have the car towed.
"How does this keep happening?," asked everybody seeing the news on Twitter.
Car drives into Queens Quay streetcar tunnel — again
— Rogue Paralegal (@rogueparalegal) March 11, 2018
Seriously?! It’s VERY clearly marked. 🤦🏻♀️ https://t.co/gFAWwCPMHu
At least five "do not enter" signs are placed clearly above and around the tunnel, along with literally dozens of flashing lights to warn drivers that only streetcars are permitted on the visible, very noisy tracks.
"You would think the nearly 20 do not enter signs and grooved concrete would stop this," wrote one observer.
"Always err on the side that the human is not stupid - that the infrastructure is not intuitive," said a local cycling group on Twitter. "Perhaps lighted signs showing a Streetcar in a Green circle; Car in a Red circle with a line through it?"
