Hello,
We heard from a resident of Portland Oregon, who is a summer intern living in Arlington, that there are 'lots of streetcar accidents in Portland'. So we did a Web search on 'streetcar accidents'. We found an investigative report that was published in the Arizona Star newspaper on February 19th. So here are the first few paragraphs.
Streetcar tracks heighten accident concerns here
"In addition to figuring out how to engineer, build and operate a $200 million new modern streetcar through the heart of town, Tuscon faces an additional challenge: how to prevent accidents with cars and bicycles.
Phoenix's new light rail experienced more than 100 accidents with cars and pedestrians in the first three years, causing more than $2.3 million in damages to the light rail forcing officials to launch a nearly $275,000 public education campaign. The Arizona Daily Star created a database of all 106 light-rail crashes at azstarnet.com/databases.
Meanwhile in Portland, the bicycle community has ramped up a campaign to get riders to report accidents because hundreds of cyclists have crashed on the tracks, mainly by getting their wheels stuck in the gap between the tracks and the street.
In Seattle, a group of six cyclists filed a class action lawsuit against the city, saying they crashed on the streetcar tracks and were injured.
Despite the fact only a miniscule portion of Tuscon's streetcar tracks have been installed, they have already contributed to a fatality - something that hasn't happened in Portland in its 10 years of operation."
Dennis M. McKinney, 47, was riding on East Congress Street near the Fourth Avenue Underpass when he lost control of his bike as it got caught up in the streetcar tracks, according to a police report of the July 2010 incident. He lost control of his vehicle and was struck by a truck in the next lane. He was pronounced dead at University Medical Center."
Cindy
35 comments:
Where is the concern by Arlington's bicycle community?
Where are the costs of damage from accidents, lawsuits, and injuries figured into Pike Transit's Alternatives Analysis?
So this streetcar thing is going on all over and Arlington has to have streetcars no matter what the costs because other cities have them?
Douglas Park near Zimmy's home is getting traffic calming installed because Mary Beth Zimmerman doesn't want more vehicles in the neighborhood.
Chris Zimmerman is seldom seen in his neighborhood and neighborhood residents believe he lives elsewhere, and not in Arlington.
Correct about Mary Beth. How much is this costing taxpayers whose own streets badly need repaving?
Want to see some sobering stuff about streetcars? Google "streetcar accidents Toronto"
Toronto residents are so fed up with accidents, delays, and traffic jams caused by streetcars they want Toronto streetcars replaced by buses.
Chris Zimmerman and/or his family have a second home somewhere and it's not in Arlington County. That's where he spends his time when he's not at 2100 Clarendon Blvd., or traveling.
It's a rental...
How many accidents involving Metrobuses and ART buses occur on the Pike inside Arlington County every year?
So where does the Alternatives Analysis for Pike transit alternatives quantify the costs of accidents?
Hey Yupette, $ara$ota $cotty McCaffrey is claiming he has NO power as Editor of a multi-county newspaper aimed at the affluent AND as a member of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce's Executive Committee to influence anyone or anything.
$cott is another one who's outta here in a few years after spending his career as a 'journalist' shilling for Zimmy and the Chamber's members.
Yes, Toronto residents want to replace streetcars with buses.
Like the other local media the Sun Gazette specializes in keeping residents ignorant of what the Governing Elite are actually doing by inundating us with trivia and drivel.
Ask yourself, why is this the only blog that will discuss alternatives to Zimmerman's trolley folly?
So Chris Zimmerman is yet another non-resident County Board employee? Like the County Attorney, County Board Clerk, Deputy County Board Clerk...?
Where's the leadership of Arlington's bicycle community on this important safety issue?
Right. It was some other Scott McCaffrey who introduced Mary Hynes at the Chamber's VIP "State of the County" event last week.
Why did long-time Transportation Advisory Commission Chair Bill Gearhart resign three months after he was reappointed for another term?
If you Google 'streetcar accidents' you will see there are law firms in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, etc., that make their money solely from litigating streetcar accidents.
You can see all the accidents between 2009 and 2011 in Phoenix involving streetcars by going to http://tinyurl.com/lightrailcrashes
Streetcars would be another one of the County Board massive boondoggles, like Major League Baseball was 7 years ago. Ended up costing D.C. taxpayers $670 million for a stadium.
OMG --- These streetcar systems are major league litigation nightmares and ongoing accident disasters.
UN-believable what I pull up just by googling "streetcar accidents".
End up costing Arlington $670 million in litigation expenses and personal liability judgements every YEAR.
How about a feature just on Toronto's streetcars? They are sick and tired of the accidents and the traffic problems streetcars cause.
Time for Melvin Belli, "King of Torts", to resurrect. He built his reputation representing trolley victims.
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/10/us/melvin-belli-dies-at-88-flamboyant-lawyer-relished-his-role-as-kingof-torts.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
Google "Phoenix streetcar accidents'. Lots of injuries, some serious, lots of major collision damage.
Take a look at the types of injuries, pretty sobering data. No wonder the bicyclists in Portland are pissed about streetcars.
Chris Zimmerman knows all about streetcars and accidents, he doesn't care.
This is the only media outlet that will show a photo of the Wright ACE bus. This is the only media outlet that will discuss streetcar safety issues. Indicates to me that this blog is correct - County Board and all the entities that support it are, essentially, corrupt.
County Board and County Department and Division Chiefs just concluded a 2-day meeting where participants and consultants discussed ways of fast-tracking the County Board's pet vanity projects by systematically excluding residents who are in opposition from the discussion.
Safety is a HUGE issue anyplace that has streetcars. Not in Arlington.
County Board is attempting to massively censor any and all information related to new articulated buses, new double deck buses, and streetcar accidents.
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