Valley Line LRT/ Valley Line West | ?m | ?s | City of Edmonton

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Can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I agree with Lorne Gunter - probably the first time ever. The sensory overload part specifically. It is widely known that humans can't focus or task more than three things at a time. I have a feeling the City is going to have to pivot and install gates at some point or simply accept that crashes are going to be a common occurrence for the foreseeable future of this line. I think other cities have done the latter - just accepted the risk and deal with it as it happens. There are many examples in other cities of vehicles crashing into trains with this type of line. While yes, drivers are to blame, you also have to acknowledge that the train line simply being present at grade is why the crashes are happening. It adds another variable into the things that drivers have to process in real time.

edmontonsun.com

GUNTER: Even if car-LRT crashes aren't city's fault, they're still the city's problem to fix

The city is going to have to do something to prevent “unplanned physical interaction” between Edmonton drivers and its trains.
edmontonsun.com edmontonsun.com
 
westcoastjos said:
Can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I agree with Lorne Gunter - probably the first time ever. The sensory overload part specifically. It is widely known that humans can't focus or task more than three things at a time. I have a feeling the City is going to have to pivot and install gates at some point or simply accept that crashes are going to be a common occurrence for the foreseeable future of this line. I think other cities have done the latter - just accepted the risk and deal with it as it happens. There are many examples in other cities of vehicles crashing into trains with this type of line. While yes, drivers are to blame, you also have to acknowledge that the train line simply being present at grade is why the crashes are happening. It adds another variable into the things that drivers have to process in real time.

edmontonsun.com

GUNTER: Even if car-LRT crashes aren't city's fault, they're still the city's problem to fix

The city is going to have to do something to prevent “unplanned physical interaction” between Edmonton drivers and its trains.
edmontonsun.com edmontonsun.com
Click to expand...
“Not fixing the signals and signs along the route after all these crashes would be the equivalent of not fixing all those piers in which cracks were discovered last year.”
Has Gunter EVER had a good take? Like even just once?
 
Seamusmuldrew said:
“Not fixing the signals and signs along the route after all these crashes would be the equivalent of not fixing all those piers in which cracks were discovered last year.”
Has Gunter EVER had a good take? Like even just once?
Click to expand...
Perhaps I should have said that I agree with certain parts of the article. Gunter does have the tendency to use hyperbole to get his point across.
 
westcoastjos said:
Perhaps I should have said that I agree with certain parts of the article. Gunter does have the tendency to use hyperbole to get his point across.
Click to expand...
I really just don't see total false equivalencies as good points. I can see the perspective that the city should do something about the incidents, however the immediate finger pointing that always happens toward the city and its partners (transed) when for years the information on how this line will work has been available to the public is totally unjustified. It's typical for people in this city to always find someone other than drivers to blame. In 2021 there were 17,000 total car collisions including 16 fatalities and I really don't hear that much in calls for improving intersection and road design in this city, and certainly not from the pro-car people (because it'd probably involve making roads narrower and slowing people down); In 5 months there has been 6 or so crashes involving the train, none of them fatal, and none of them being the fault of the train and now the city is negligent, they should be blamed for poor driving, and more money should be spent because all of the intersections need to be completely reevaluated and redesigned. If someone can't balance paying attention to more than one thing while they're driving more than a ton of metal at high speeds, they absolutely should not be allowed to drive.
 
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