Tram accidents on the rise: Study

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDAug 23 2010

There has been an increase in tram accidents and injuries, despite new safety measures. In a Melbourne-based study, conducted by a group of emergency doctors, 1,769 cases of trauma that occurred in tram accidents between 2001 and 2008 were looked into. Results showed that 107 emergency patients suffered major trauma from tram accidents, and 15 people were killed. Among major trauma cases there was a rise from four cases in 2001 to 14 cases in 2008. Most of the major accidents occurred within 10 kilometres of the CBD, and the median age of patients was 37. About 58 per cent were male.

According to Alfred Hospital Emergency Physician and lead researcher Dr Biswadev Mitra, most of these deaths were preventable with victims being pedestrians. He said, "With the new trams that are being designed, it would appear that there is excellent separation of cars from trams, there are not that many trams that are hitting cars…But when you look at them there is very little separating pedestrians from trams." He added, "The new-age trams are quieter and faster,'' he said. ''But when pedestrians think about things they can get hit by, they don't put as much importance on trams. Trams are looked at as slow-moving things, rattling along and you'll hear them - but that's very different to what we've got now. They're silent, they're fast and you can get major trauma."

The study was published in the journal Emergency Medicine Australasia.

According to a spokesman for Yarra Trams, Jake Hatton, the operator was working with the Traffic Accident Commission, VicRoads and the RACV on preventive measures and public information campaigns. He feels that this report will serve to warn pedestrians. He added, "Pedestrians and motorists should remember that trams can't stop as quickly as cars or swerve to avoid pedestrians or cars that cross in front of them." He added that Yarra Trams was considering increasing the number of "handholds" on some types of tram. He said that, anecdotally, many falls on trams occurred when people were trying to purchase and validate tickets, but the introduction of myki, the world's largest smart card ticketing systems, should make the process quicker.