The TTC is initiating an internal safety review of its operational practices following a recent spate of serious streetcar collisions this month that included two fatalities.
An internal working group was pulled together Wednesday, TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said, and will convene members from the agency’s safety team, streetcar division, as well as staff from the “front lines” to discuss possible solutions to the incidents.
“The cluster that we’ve seen in the recent weeks with respect to streetcars and pedestrians and cyclists is concerning to us,” Ross told the Star. “We’re pulling all of those investigations and those instances together to see if there’s a common thread of some kind that we can discern and, and act upon.”
Ross said they are looking into “everything” during the course of the review that could help the working group, including the TTC’s recent initiative to install external-facing surveillance cameras on streetcars and buses.
“We don’t believe that there is a trend here or a pattern, but we want to make sure that we have done all that we can,” Ross added. No timelines have been set so far. “We’re not going to rush anything.”
Earlier this year
a Star analysis of police traffic statistics showed streetcars account for a disproportionate number of pedestrian and cyclist fatalities involving TTC vehicles.
Between 2007 and 2017, streetcars accounted for 15 of 29 pedestrian or cyclist deaths involving public transit. That’s despite the fact that during its busiest periods the TTC operates about 1,600 buses compared to only 160 streetcars, and buses travel roughly 10 times as many kilometres as the rail vehicles.
In addition to pedestrian and cyclist fatalities, streetcars are also more likely to be involved in collisions of any kind. In 2017, the vehicles were involved in 7.61 crashes per 100,000 miles driven, more than double the rate for buses.
In response to the Star analysis, a TTC spokesperson said streetcars are “extremely safe” but “are heavy, don’t stop quickly and can’t swerve to avoid people.”
The first of the incidents that prompted the TTC review occurred on Oct. 1 when a 53-year-old man was struck while walking on the streetcar right-of-way on the Queensway south of High Park, near Ellis Ave. He was trapped under the streetcar and died four days later.
On Monday, a 61-year-old man was riding his bicycle on Queen St. E. near Hamilton St. when he lost control, fell to the ground, and was struck by a passing streetcar, according to police.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, a man suffered serious injuries when he was hit by a streetcar on Roncesvalles Ave.
Two of the incidents involved the transit agency’s new larger, low-floor streetcars. The man killed in the Queensway collision was struck by one of the TTC’s older model vehicles.
Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr
Ilya Bañares is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @ilyaoverseas
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