Driver inattention is to blame for three collisions involving vehicles and CTrains this week, police say, including a crash Monday morning in downtown Calgary that tied up traffic and caused train service disruptions.

All three drivers were charged with running a red light, which comes with a minimum fine of $172, said Sgt. Colin Foster with the Calgary Police Service’s collision reconstruction unit.

“It’s a stupid thing to do,” Foster said. “Trains don’t swerve out of your way. They will continue in a straight line. They take ages to stop compared to a vehicle ... If you go through a red light, you’re going to have a collision, end of story.”

The most recent crash took place before 11 a.m. Monday at 7th Avenue near 3rd Street S.W.

On Friday, police were investigating after two vehicles were hit by CTrains at the 4th Avenue and 9th Street S.W. intersection less than six hours apart.

There were no injuries in any of the three incidents.

But these types of crashes can lead to serious injury and even death, Foster said.

And when a train is forced to brake suddenly, passengers standing on the train may fall over and sustain injuries, he added.

Doug Morgan, director of Calgary Transit, said repairing the damaged trains can be quite costly. The two crashes on Friday incurred repair costs between $100,000 and $200,000.

Crashes also cause disruptions and inconvenience the tens of thousands of people who take the train each day.

And it puts pressure on Calgary Transit to be able to ensure there are enough trains to replace those under repair, and enough buses to shuttle stranded passengers to their destinations.

“As of this point, we’re still meeting commitments as far as peak hour traffic, but it’s tough,” Morgan said. “These kinds of events can have a lot of impact on Calgarians.”

He said transit workers have returned to examine the lights and crossings at the crash sites and determined they were working “like they’ve always been.”

“It just seems to be inattentiveness on the part of drivers. We’re really concerned this is a pattern we need to address,” Morgan said.

He said the city and police will work together to raise awareness on safety around CTrain crossings and enforce traffic laws.



cho@calgaryherald.com