Pro-Streetcar Law Firms Stand to Win Big Streetcar Accident Damages

Hi, Yupette,

Thanks for your blog.

Have you Googled "streetcar accidents" and "trolley accidents" lately? Check out all the ads by the ambulance chasing law firms. You can also Google the names of the DC-area firms that are pro-streetcar to see which ones have practice areas that include negligence and personal injury.

If you want to see how much Arlington taxpayers and local health insurers are going to pay out from streetcar accidents you should read the ambulance chasers' ads. Some of the cases settle for more than $1 million.

Another reason we don't need streetcars in Arlington.

Larry, 22204

Who Will Pay for Streetcar Accidents?

Hello,

We have reviewed reports of recent streetcar accidents and streetcar injuries from around the United States and Canada. It's evident that streetcars and streetcar tracks are inherently dangerous and cannot be made safe. Shared-street streetcars and streetcar tracks have caused numerous injuries to pedestrians and operators of all types of vehicles for over 100 years.

Based upon what's occurring in Toronto, Portland, Seattle, and elsewhere, Arlington would see hundreds of injuries once streetcar tracks were installed on Columbia Pike. Even bicycle riders who cross streetcar tracks at a 90 degree angle will slip if tracks are slippery. And Arlington's primary 'solution' to transportation problems is building more parking for non-resident commuters, and under wherever multi-unit residential buildings are constructed, then putting more residents on  bicycles.

Who will pay for the accidents? Ultimately, insurers and taxpayers. Using Portland and Seattle as examples, local attorneys and law firms will represent bicyclists, motorists, pedestrians and others who are injured. Health insurers will pay for most injuries. How many low-wage part-time workers will be covered by national health insurance in 2014 is uncertain. Who will pay if a truck hits a streetcar, the streetcar derails, and there are dozens of injuries?

Planning Columbia Pike streetcar system has nothing to do with transportation and, like Rail to Dulles, is all about development and redevelopment. As appalling as the 'safety last' mentality of County Government is the greed of the out-of-state real estate trusts, consultants, and developers.

The legacy of current Arlington County Board will ultimately be moral responsibility for the injuries, property damage, and litigation arising from construction of an unnecessary shared-street streetcar system on Columbia Pike.

Cindy

Media Sources Confirm Massive County Board Censorship Against Streetcar Alternatives

Hello, Yupette,

I worked as an intern for one of the local news blogs and the owner of the blog was repeatedly informed by the County Manager's office that he would lose his advertisers and never be given another exclusive by the County Board if anything whatever was published about bus rapid transit. So nothing has been published.

Mary Hynes is flat-out lying when she states that citizens have access to comprehensive information about Pike transit. The comprehensive information has been about streetcars and streetcar systems. The news blog where I worked received repeated requests to publish information about bus rapid transit, but the blog's owner was afraid to comply.

S.T.
Arlington, 22204

County Board Transit Options Work Session - November 15th, Central Library, 6 PM

Hello,

The Arlington County Board will hold a work session with "Streetcar and Transit Project Representatives" on Thursday, November 15th at 6 PM at the Arlington Central Library, 1015 North Quincy Street, at 6 PM.

According to the County Board's meeting agenda, the meeting will be a "County Board work session with representatives from jurisdictions that have implemented streetcar or other similar transit projects to discuss alternative delivery mechanisms. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend."

Cindy

Minor Streetcar Accidents Will Create Major Pike Traffic Problems

Hi Yupette,

If anything this blog underestimates the traffic problems a streetcar system will create on the Pike.

I regularly visit Portland and Seattle. Takes at least an hour to clear an auto-streetcar accident without injuries, because the 4-wheel vehicle almost always cannot be driven and the streetcar has to be inspected for damage.

Also, takes an hour when a bicyclist who's thrown off his or her bicycle and breaks bones or suffers a concussion for the police and paramedics to reach the scene and take the person to the hospital.

Why is so much time, effort, and money being expended on designing more irrational shared-street streetcar systems?

Terri, 22204

Arlington Yupette's Endorsements for 2012

Hi,

Thanks for asking who A.Y. is endorsing for election and re-election next Tuesday.

So here are our endorsements:

For President and Vice-President:  Barack Obama and Joe Biden

For U.S. Senate: Tim Kaine

For U.S. House of Representatives (8th Congressional District) :  Jason Howell

For Arlington County Board:  Anyone but Libby Garvey

Arlington County Bond Referenda:  NO to Parks Bond funding aka Gerald J. Fisette Aquatics Center

For Amendments to the Virginia Constitution: YES to protecting Virginians from land grabs by developers and their local government cronies under the guise of  'Economic Development'.

Cindy

Chris Zimmerman's Legacy to Arlington: Pike Streetcar Will Injure Many

Hello,

We received an e-mail from a bicyclist in Toronto alerting us to the following research paper in the current American Journal of Public Health: 'Route Infrastructure and the Risk of Injuries to Bicyclists: A Case-Crossover Study'.

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto studied 690 bicycle accidents that occurred in Toronto and Vancouver. Of the crashes that occurred in Toronto, streetcar tracks directly accounted for 31.5% of all bike accidents in the city that led. (The study did not count collisions between bicyclists and streetcars).

The research project determined that of the accidents involving tracks, 19 cyclists (19.8 percent) said their tires slipped on the tracks and 77 (80.2 percent) said their tires got caught in the tracks.

St. Michaels' Hospital was one of four hospitals in Toronto and Vancouver whose patients were tracked in the study. (At least 20 hospitals and healthcare facilities in and around Toronto provide general medical services for bicycle accident-related injuries).

Why is Arlington going forward with this dangerous streetcar system?