Since the opening of the Valley Line LRT in November 2023, there’s been multiple instances of vehicles colliding with it.
The intersection of 75 Street and Roper Road is one of the most problematic.
The Valley Line is a different kind of LRT than Edmontonians were used to, designed to blend into traffic and share the road. There are no crossing arms.
That necessitated changes for drivers. For instance, at many intersections, you cannot turn right on red. But not everyone is getting the memo.
Over the last five years, with the Capital and Metro LRT lines, there’s been a total of six collisions.
On the Valley Line, the city’s numbers show a different story.
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There’s been 31 crashes in the last two years and two months with the route to the city’s southeast.
However, the frequency of the crashes is decreasing over time.
The Alberta Motor Association (AMA) hopes to continue that trend, by educating drivers with a public campaign that includes a wrap on the train, billboards, social media posts and commercials.
“Trains can’t stop on a dime, they can’t swerve out of the way. Really it’s the driver’s responsibility to pay attention when they’re coming to an intersection,” explained Hannah Hamilton, AMA’s safe communities manager.
“We took out the wraps as a really visual way to remind people — don’t hurt the train. We have the band aids on them.”
They say things like ‘Ouch’ and ‘Give the train a brake.’
As for the city, in a statement, the head of the Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) said they’ve been improving signage, lane markings and traffic signals to help alert Edmontonians to the presence of the train.
There are no plans to add crossing arms.
If you’re worried about what the damage to the LRT will cost, ETS said the drivers are in the wrong, and their insurance has to pay.
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