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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
Someone else brought up animals wandering onto the tracks (Racoons are the only thing I can think of that wanders around there but I can't see them being a problem) and another poster pointed out people will walk down the tracks if they can do so at pedestrian exits. I don't think these are specific issues that haven't happened elsewhere and in fact I posted a link a week or two ago to a sad situation in Edmonton where people walked on to a track and got killed by an LRT in an area that wasn't fenced off. Oddly enough Transport Canada thinks that a fence might help prevent that kind of thing from happening.

We have a place were it kinda makes sense to build a fence since it harms absolutely no one, doesn't delay the train or cost a whole heck of a lot. There isn't much of a good reason not to do it, I'm sure if you take an HDR picture in the middle of summer that trail with the fence there it will still look nice.

People will still die in car crashes but we have air bags and seatbelts, but they still keep spending millions on developing sensors and technophiles are eageraly awating self-driving cars that will apparently reduce collisions. Construction workers still die on the job but they wear safety glasses and harnesses despite the fact such things used to be regarded as a sign of wussiness and people falling to their death was part of the cost of business.  I don't see why it's such a huge deal to try and mitigate some risks if it's only gonna cost us a fence and a slightly less picturesque view of the back end of Waterloo park. I'm sure if CN were building the railway today it would be fenced in for most of its length in urban areas.

You're right that we can't guard against every potential hazard but that doesn't really mean that we shouldn't try and reduce risks where we can, especially if it's only the cost of a fence.

Speaking of subways, every system in the world has to deal with suicide jumpers which sucks for the driver and it sucks for everyone else that has to ride shuttle buses while they clean up the mess and investigate. More and more places will start to build screen doors when they build systems to prevent this kind of stuff. Who cares if they can't stand
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RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - by clasher - 04-17-2015, 10:18 PM
[No subject] - by Spokes - 08-28-2014, 04:16 PM

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