'Footage that will make you tense to watch': GRT releasing videos of near misses with ION trains
Grand River Transit is releasing new videos every day this week showing close calls with its ION trains.
It is part of their Rail Safety Week campaign, with the goal of increasing awareness around the region’s LRT tracks.
The videos will show near-misses with other vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians.
“It’s footage that will make you tense to watch and cause your belly to rise,” Regional Councillor Tom Galloway said in a release. “But it’s an important reminder that everyone -- transit users, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers -- need to pay attention to their surroundings.”
In the first video, a pedestrian can be seen crossing the street in front of an approaching LRT. They then drop their phone near the tracks, and crouch down to pick it up, despite the fact that the train is just a few metres away.
The videos are meant to show how distracted walking, cycling and driving can have serious and sometimes tragic consequences.
Grand River Transit says in each instance, the LRT operators were able to safely stop the train before a collision.
“They do have some jarring videos,” said Peter Zinck, the Director of Transit Services for the Region of Waterloo. “It’s just raise awareness around this issue because there’s moving vehicles. There’s moving people around, and sometimes people aren’t always watching what’s going on around them.”
According to officials, there have been seven near hits with ION trains and seven collisions with other vehicles.
That includes a crash earlier this month in Kitchener between an ION train and a car.
“We’d like to get to zero,” said Zinck. “We’d like to not have any of these incidents. It’s really about being aware as you interact with the trains.”
Metrolinx, which operates local GO trains, also weighed in on the safety message.
“It’s important to never underestimate how fast the trains go, and to adhere to the signs and safety measures in place,” said Nitish Bissonauth, a media relations spokesperson for Metrolinx.
Grand River Transit will be releasing the videos on their social media and YouTube channels.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.