Increased C-Train vs. vehicle collisions prompts caution from authorities
Posted Dec 30, 2013 1:12 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s a simple message, but it’s being said anyway from the City and police: pay attention.
The message comes after a spike in collisions between vehicles and C-Trains, with half a dozen in the last couple of months, mostly in the downtown core.
Acting Insp. Michael Watterston, with the Calgary Police Service Traffic Section, said even though distracted driving charges haven’t been laid, the common denominator has been driving error.
“Clearly when the motorist is indicating I didn’t see, I didn’t notice that I had run the red light,” he said.
“Clearly when all the other indicators are there, witnesses indicate that they saw the barricade, they saw the lights, they heard the signal, other vehicles stopped, except for the vehicle that collided with the train.”
“When we’re talking about those crashes that involve, most recently the LRT, a majority of those are preventable, are attributed to motor-vehicle, driver error.”
He added it’s also frustrating when multiple resources get used up.
“It’s EMS, Fire personnel, LRT personnel, police personnel, we’ve got a train full of citizens that have their activities to go to, their obligations, a lot of people become inconvenienced because of a person’s inattention or lack of awareness,” Watterston said.
Richard Pootmans, councillor for Ward 6, said while he’s pushing for more drivers to be careful, he also sees it as a city responsibility.
“Frankly, I’m not sure exactly why it’s going up,” Pootmans said.
“I’ll be asking our transportation folks and the transit folks to take a look at the signage, look through statistics, are there any things in common that are going through the accidents that we can address.”
Pootmans echoes Watterston’s sentiments regarding frustration over resources being used and the 300,000 LRT daily passengers that can be disrupted.
With New Year’s Eve on the horizon, Pootmans is urging even more caution.
“Get where you’re going safe, if it takes you an extra minute or two to arrive at your destination safely, that’s the important thing,” Pootmans said.
