They’re a beloved symbol of Toronto and have been a mainstay of the city’s public transportation network for a century, but streetcars may pose a higher risk to pedestrian and cyclist safety compared to other transit vehicles.
According to a Star analysis of data posted online by the Toronto police, streetcars account for a disproportionate number of TTC-involved collisions that kill bicycle riders or people on foot.
Between 2007 and 2017, TTC buses and streetcars were involved in at least 29 crashes that resulted in the deaths of so-called “vulnerable road users.”
Of those collisions, 15 — or slightly more than half — involved streetcars, despite the fact that they make up only about one tenth of the TTC’s fleet of more than 2,000 vehicles, and the agency travels about 10 times as many kilometres using buses than it does streetcars.
Deaths involving streetcars still make up only a fraction of the number of vulnerable road users killed in Toronto, which have averaged around 30 a year over the past decade.
The TTC says streetcars remain “an extremely safe mode of transport” and the vehicles regularly travel millions of kilometres without a fatality.
But there are some factors that might contribute to them being involved in a higher number of deadly collisions than buses, said spokesperson Stuart Green.
“Streetcars are heavy, don’t stop quickly and can’t swerve to avoid people,” Green said in an email. “Despite the training and best efforts of our operators to be defensive at all times, sadly, collisions do occur.”
The 15 streetcar-related fatalities involved 12 pedestrians and three cyclists.
The statistics don’t indicate who was at fault for the bus and streetcar crashes. In some cases, non-TTC vehicles were also involved.
Green noted pedestrians often use streetcar rights-of-way — the streetcar-only lanes that separate transit vehicles from car traffic on routes like Spadina Ave. and St. Clair Ave. — to cross midblock, which can be dangerous.
Nine of the 15 streetcar-related deaths, including two of the cyclist crashes, occurred on routes with rights-of-way.
“The TTC is looking at how it might mark the curbs of rights-of-way to clearly delineate that they are not islands of refuge and pose a danger,” Green said.
The agency also recently launched a public information campaign to alert people that streetcars can’t stop quickly. Messages posted on the vehicles warn they weigh 48,200 kg and take time to come to a halt.
In addition to fatal crashes, TTC data shows streetcars are more likely than buses to be in collisions of any kind, including with other vehicles. Last year streetcars experienced 7.61 collisions per 100,000 miles driven, more than double the rate for buses.
There’s no clear explanation for why streetcars would be involved in a disproportionate number of collisions that kill vulnerable road users.
Dylan Reid, the co-founder of pedestrian advocacy group Walk Toronto, said his organization has no position on whether streetcars are a particular safety concern. But he suggested one reason for the high number of streetcar-pedestrian fatalities could be that the vehicles mainly run downtown.
“Streetcars operate in the areas with the largest pedestrian volumes. So you know, streetcars are interacting with pedestrians disproportionately compared to buses,” he said.
That may not fully explain the phenomenon, however. The TTC also runs buses on busy downtown routes like Bay, Ossington, and Wellesley Sts., yet there was only one bus fatality downtown between 2007 and 2017.
Councillor Joe Mihevc represents a ward that includes St. Clair Ave., a streetcar route on which five people have been killed since 2010. That was the same year the city completed the streetcar right-of-way on St. Clair.
Despite the pedestrian deaths caused by streetcars, Mihevc argues that the right-of-way has actually made the road safer. He points to preliminary results of a study conducted by the TTC that determined collisions between all types of road users on St. Clair dropped by 28 per cent after the right-of-way was installed.
“The argument is not against streetcars, but it’s against streetcars in mixed traffic,” said Mihevc (Ward 21 St. Paul’s).
Gil Penalosa, founder of 8-80 Cities, a non-profit that advocates for sustainable mobility options, said streetcars aren’t inherently unsafe. But he suggested the TTC could make modifications to reduce collisions.
“I do think there is clearly a problem of design,” he said, arguing that railings should be erected on rights-of-way to guide streetcar passengers toward safe intersections, rather than allowing them to cross midblock.
“How could we invest so much money on the streetcar (system), but not make those small changes?” he asked.
Last year, there were three vulnerable road user fatalities involving TTC vehicles, which represented a reversal of progress the transit agency made in 2016 when no cyclists or pedestrians were killed.
The TTC has attributed the elimination of fatal collisions that year to the “safe service action plan” it launched in 2015, which revamped training and operating protocols in order to prevent crashes.
“We’re constantly reviewing statistics, detecting areas of concern, investigating incidents and adjusting our practices where necessary to improve safety,” said Green.
Amid growing concern about traffic deaths, two years ago council endorsed a road safety plan that set a goal of eliminating fatalities and serious injuries. The TTC is taking part in the plan.
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