Melbourne’s raised tram stops are back in the spotlight… this time as a “problem” for drivers. But let’s look holistically at this.
Melbourne’s tram network (the largest in the world) still has many stops where people step directly onto a medium/high speed road to board or alight. This is mind-boggling for us road safety engineers. It is a huge pedestrian risk. And these legacy stops are not at all accessible.
Raised tram stops exist to make these stops accessible and also to significantly reduce pedestrian risk, and they are doing a good job of it.
While they can create some interesting issues for drivers (see video below), it is important to look at overall safety, especially for those boarding and alighting trams.
A modified before and after analysis, controlling for ridership at different sites, was performed on Melbourne’s platform tram stops. It found:
- 43% reduction in pedestrian-involved injury crashes
- 81% reduction in pedestrian-involved injury crashes (statistically significant at the 95% level)
- 86% reduction in pedestrian-involved fatal and serious injury crashes (statistically significant at the 95% level)
Some design tweaks can significantly reduce the likelihood of minor issues for drivers, and this should continue to be refined. But do not lose sight of the pedestrian risk reduction and accessibility benefits.
The research: Safety impacts of platform tram stops on pedestrians in mixed traffic operation: A comparison group before–after crash study (Naznin, Currie, Logan, Sarvi; 2016)
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