On-going Calgarians hit by trains thread

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Roast Beef

Still wouldn't work. Just look at pedestrians downtown with the countdown timers, if you had something like a locking gate on any given intersection downtown there would be dozens of fatalities per day....people are stupid and a countdown timer actually makes things riskier. Combine that with a locking gate and it's a recipe for disaster.

Edit: Not to mention the logistics of it. If you did have a countdown timer on the tracks, where would it be triggered? How would it deal with the varying speed of each incoming/outgoing train? How would it be able to lock people from going onto the tracks but still let people off of the tracks? Could it prevent another clueless person from walking onto the tracks through the gate that the other person just opened from the other side? What about the people wearing headphones? Or the people with their heads buried in their phones...the current flashing lights and sounds don't always prevent this, so how could something else do it? You can only realistically do so much to prevent stupid from happening.

You guys are missing the easiest solution. Have a latch on the inside like any electronically locked apartment door. Yes you could reach over and undo it but that act of intervention should prompt looking. Unlike the Z path you currently walk through

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by Cameron Swift

Safety transit boss considers ban on headphones near LRT stations - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...-ban-1.3995225

I have no idea how they would implement that.

Human who CHOOSES TO NEGLECT an incoming train gets hit and dies. Obvious solution is BAN TRAINS

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Cameron Swift

Safety transit boss considers ban on headphones near LRT stations - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...-ban-1.3995225

I have no idea how they would implement that.

Heard this on the news today also. Crappy idea, but honestly people are stupid and need nanny state ideas like this to protect them from themselves.

It will be impossible to enforce. I myself would never adhere to it. Honestly the only solution to completely stop some moron from walking across the tracks while the lights, arm and bells are all going off is to have 4 security guards, 2 on each side, guarding the gate and physically stopping people from going through.

Way too expensive and a waste of resources. But I honestly can't think of any other idea to 'guarantee' no one cross the tracks when they aren't supposed to.

[chemgear]

Hire a bunch of guys off the street. Have them stand at either end of each and every platform and they can fine and ticket each and every person who has earbuds or headphones. It'll improve employment numbers and generate revenue for the transit service (and reduce taxes needed to run it).

Oh, and maybe thwart Darwin a time or two. Everybody wins (loses).

[Otto-matic]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Here's a simple solution to all of this...

Make the gates electric and have them automatically lock whenever a train is coming.

It wouldn't even be that hard... just have them lock when the flashing lights start. Hell, would it even cost that much?

It'd stop people buried in their phones, for sure. Idiots who hop the fences? That's just pure idiocy, and there's nothing you can do.

Here's a simpler solution,

People just need to pay attention instead of being glued to their damn phone 24/7. We don't need headphone bans or anything extra around the stations. If people just spend the 10 seconds away from their phone to look before crossing no one would get hit by trains.

The fact people still get hit by trains yet have multiple warnings is solely on them.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Otto-matic

Here's a simpler solution,

People just need to pay attention instead of being glued to their damn phone 24/7. We don't need headphone bans or anything extra around the stations. If people just spend the 10 seconds away from their phone to look before crossing no one would get hit by trains.

The fact people still get hit by trains yet have multiple warnings is solely on them.

This post should end the discussion.

[4X4]

I wonder how I ever survived high school, listening to my walkman while taking trains and buses everywhere. The death defying stunts I pulled... I used to have to cross the tracks at heritage all the time. Daily. With my walkman in my ears. And a freakin backpack to slow me down. And these Doc Martin shoes that I wore right down so I could slide on snow. But I learned this cool trick. When my ears were busy listening to Metallica or Snoop, I used my eyes to look for these big ass flashing lights. They were red back then. Not sure if they've run out of juice and now they're running clear or something. I'm just glad I don't have to risk my life everyday anymore.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by habernac

Probably not. Most cities are smart and bury or elevate their trains.

Still, there are other cities that have at-grade commuter trains. I get that maybe we only hear about Calgary-related accidents, but maybe other cities have figured this out.

Edit: I guess not. A searching of accidents in Toronto shows pages of pedestrian incidents with its commuter train.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by habernac

Probably not. Most cities are smart and bury or elevate their trains.

Well, smart, sure, but from my understanding it isnt like we have much of a choice, the cost to elevate them along with our existing infrastructure is staggering and I understand that the ground is too soft to bury them.

And, well, they're trains. Its not like they show up anywhere unexpected. If you see the little rails in the ground you'd better keep your head up.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Locke

Well, smart, sure, but from my understanding it isnt like we have much of a choice, the cost to elevate them along with our existing infrastructure is staggering and I understand that the ground is too soft to bury them.

And, well, they're trains. Its not like they show up anywhere unexpected. If you see the little rails in the ground you'd better keep your head up.

Oh, I get it. I'm smart enough to not be hit by trains. I walk around with earbuds in all the time and, big shock, have yet to have an incident because I'm not an idiot.

But the ground too soft excuse is bull####. The amount of traffic snarls this would alleviate alone makes burying the train a no brainer. The new line going north is going under the river. The ground is suddenly not too soft to bury a train? They cheaped out initially and one of the consequences is the ridiculous amount of at grade crossings we have.

[Phaneufenstein]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I wonder how I ever survived high school, listening to my walkman while taking trains and buses everywhere. The death defying stunts I pulled... I used to have to cross the tracks at heritage all the time. Daily. With my walkman in my ears. And a freakin backpack to slow me down. And these Doc Martin shoes that I wore right down so I could slide on snow. But I learned this cool trick. When my ears were busy listening to Metallica or Snoop, I used my eyes to look for these big ass flashing lights. They were red back then. Not sure if they've run out of juice and now they're running clear or something. I'm just glad I don't have to risk my life everyday anymore.

My eyes were often red in high school too!

[ken0042]

At the risk of being labeled "stupid", I'll share my own near miss story regarding trains. I was on foot on 5th ave heading westbound. The lights and bells started, so I waited for a northbound train to approach the intersection and cross. As the last car passed by me my first instinct was to begin to cross; as the train I was waiting for had passed.

In the time that the northbound train took to go by me, a southbound train had come over the bridge and towards the same intersection. I could not see it as my view was blocked by the NB train. Now fortunately the SB train driver hit the horn as he started to get to the intersection, so I had time to react.

Now ever since that day I am much more cautious at the train crossings. And while I definitely had a lapse in judgement, such a lapse shouldn't cost somebody their life.

As for a solution for everybody? I don't think there is a "silver bullet." However an awareness campaign might be helpful. Especially to make people aware of my own situation, and the other situations that can happen. I recall in the early 90s there was something talking about how quiet our Ctrains are for their size and weight. Maybe something like that again?

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by habernac

They cheaped out initially and one of the consequences is the ridiculous amount of at grade crossings we have.

But at the same time, Calgary didn't have the population and traffic that it has now when a lot of LRT infrastructure was planned and built. How much potential growth should be built into a design at the cost of money today?

And there is no real appetite, or money for that matter, to spend hundreds of millions of dollars upgrading existing infrastructure that is hemmed in by buildings and development.

[FireGilbert]

Looking at the hierarchy of controls:

Elimination or Substitution: Obviously not possible to remove or replace the train.

Engineering Controls: This is what I have suggested. Build overpasses over the train so commuters are isolated from the risk. This has a very high initial cost however but would be easy to maintain and greatly reduce deaths.

Administrative Controls: This is what Calgary transit uses now with signage and suggestions of a possible ban on headphones. This does not remove the risk of the train but does prevent exposure to it.

PPE: make all commuters wear sumo suits when going to and from the station.

Based on this, I still believe Engineering Controls would be best to save lives. If that means the Green Line takes a few more years then so be it, the cost of a human life is priceless.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by ken0042

At the risk of being labeled "stupid", I'll share my own near miss story regarding trains. I was on foot on 5th ave heading westbound. The lights and bells started, so I waited for a northbound train to approach the intersection and cross. As the last car passed by me my first instinct was to begin to cross; as the train I was waiting for had passed.

In the time that the northbound train took to go by me, a southbound train had come over the bridge and towards the same intersection. I could not see it as my view was blocked by the NB train. Now fortunately the SB train driver hit the horn as he started to get to the intersection, so I had time to react.

Now ever since that day I am much more cautious at the train crossings. And while I definitely had a lapse in judgement, such a lapse shouldn't cost somebody their life.

As for a solution for everybody? I don't think there is a "silver bullet." However an awareness campaign might be helpful. Especially to make people aware of my own situation, and the other situations that can happen. I recall in the early 90s there was something talking about how quiet our Ctrains are for their size and weight. Maybe something like that again?

do you really need an awareness campaign to remind people when a vehicle of any sort passes, to look before walking?

I'm not going to call you stupid by any means, but your first instinct you'd think would be to look first, then walk. it's what we're all taught growing up.

remember look both ways before crossing the street?

awareness programs are pretty useless. if they worked, nobody would drive drunk or get an STI, or smoke, either.

[FurnaceFace]

While in places in Europe like Nice (below), it's always amazing to see how open the tram is and how the public seemingly deals with it. This is the tram running right through the middle of a typically busy square without a flashing light or bell to be seen. Perhaps there are accidents in these cities, but there is quite the contrast in safety measures between our world and theirs.

Tagged as the image is fairly large.

Spoiler!

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

It'd be very easy to implement it. It's ENFORCING it that's the tricky deal.

I'm sure CPS would be all over enforcing that. They could sit there all day and hand out jaywalking and headphone tickets for the greater good of the public and simply ignore the drug deal going on behind them in the alley next to the station.

[Fuzz]

Well we better get used to that, becuase there are going to be lots of areas of the Green Line that will look very similar.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

While in places in Europe like Nice (below), it's always amazing to see how open the tram is and how the public seemingly deals with it. This is the tram running right through the middle of a typically busy square without a flashing light or bell to be seen. Perhaps there are accidents in these cities, but there is quite the contrast in safety measures between our world and theirs.

Tagged as the image is fairly large.

Spoiler!

You can feel the aggression in that train.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Locke

You can feel the aggression in that train.

With it's smile-y face and beluga whale shape?