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Pretty much every day someone parks their car on the tram tracks and blocks our city's tram network from operating
(feddit.org)
This does unfortunately happen multiple times per day. Sometimes it’s smaller incidents where the tram driver can get out and collapse the car’s mirror. Other times the owner of the car comes out of a nearby house after the tram used its bell extensively (like today) and moves the car. And then there are times when police needs to get involved to tow the car which often takes upwards of 1 hour.
The truly infuriating part is that if the tram damages a poorly parked car, the transportation company will have to pay the damages. Poorly parked vehicles never get fined and the owners will only need to pay if the car ends up getting towed.
Why do we accept that drivers sabotage a city’s public transport infrastructure like this?
would it be a controversial opinion that those trams should be strong enough to ram and move those cars, the owner is then responsible to pay for the fines, damages to his own vehicle, and whatever damages the ramming has caused to the tram.
Not controversial at all.
It's already established law that firefighters can shatter the windows of your car and drag the fire hose through it if you park in front of a hydrant.
100% controversial! There could be someone I side. you can't just ram stuff. The firefighters stuff is a controlled operation while trying to save lives. But endangering people is non acceptable
Well obviously they shouldn't just ram it before even checking, but if someone goes up to it, sees nobody inside, knocks on the window, and nobody responds, they should absolutely have the ability to forcefully, even if it causes damage, move the car.
Whether that's by ramming the tram itself into it (which I assume would require changes to the front for safety against damaging the tram itself) or by using some sort of tool that can push it (e.g. something that hooks onto the rails for grip and uses hydraulics to push the car out of the way), damage is acceptable if you decide your bad parking decisions are justified over every single tram rider's ability to get around, and a ton of money spent to move your car.
At what speeds do you think, a tram, that has stopped and started moving, is going?
The only danger could be to the people standing behind the car, on the sidewalk. But, I think, with enough train horn before the push, it should be safe enough.
I'm thinking the tram would slow down and gently push the car out of the way, with horn warnings before.
and if pushing the car damages another car, then the person who parked wrong is liable.
Although it's funny to imagine. it shouldn't be a "full speed ahead brace for impact".
Yep!
Cars gently pushing other cars when parking is not uncommon where I'm from.
Bumpers are made from plastic for a reason.
They most likely are, but they are also full of passengers.
I'm thinking slowly pushing it safely.
not too ram it at full speed. although that would be fun.
ACCELERATE TO RAMMING SPEED, ENSIGN!
And running over loose metal parts and carbon fiber is mechanically undesirable.
Bill the driver who parked on the way.
~~Cow~~ Car catcher
that's what they are called!
And Mythbusters proved it can work: https://youtu.be/WK6NBsWOi7A
who wouldn't want that in the middle of the city..
not being sarcastic, I do want that
It doesn’t need to fling the cars onto the tram. That might damage the tram.
Just nudge them out of the way with no concern for their vehicle.
And if the car damages something else on the side of the road, hold its owner responsible for those damages too.
If they didn’t want to be held responsible they shouldn’t have parked in a tram line 🤷♂️
I know in Melbourne at least, trams collide with cars pretty frequently. For some reason people think it's a good idea to u-turn when they're approaching. The trams rarely seem to be damaged. It's not fun for passengers though.
Maybe the next World Tram Championships should add an event: the Car Toss. That would help people visualise the consequences of leaving vehicles too close to tracks.
The driver should be able to use the PA to announce "this is your driver, prepare for ramming speed, brace for impact"... But the trams should also be equipped with something that could key cars parked close to the tracks. That way nobody would chance it parking a little close.
I don't mean like a machete, that would probably not go over well at the stops. Just something that would scratch any car coming with 5cm of the tram.
the scratching thing is just punitive, if someone parked in a safe distance then it's fine, if they aren't, then fuck em, ruin their car.
adding a device that would cause damage for the sake of it seems too extra.
and whenever the driver says "brace for impact" I'm sure all the passengers will clap and love it.
That's actually a good idea. Put some retractable Houston swangers on that shit. People will give you a very wide birth
In the spirit of controversial opinions, wouldn't those cars be the best targets for robbery?
You go in the night, break in, steal some shit, then in the morning the police come and move the car, theft is hard to solve as it is, the added confusion must be helpful for the robber.
Good idea. It should be legal to steal cars that are parked on the tracks.
The problem solves itself
not sure how it relates?
if park on the tram path you get your car hit by a tram and robbed?
more incentive not to park there.
Yes, that was my general idea, but also was an intrusive thought, there are better ways to discourage this behavior i think.
If I'm not mistaken, that's the case in Brussels: ~~Trams ALWAYS have priority. Whatever happens, if a car collid with a tram, the car is at fault.~~
~~A friend who used to live there told me its true even if the car is empty and the tram hit it... Repeteadly...~~
Edit: see below comment, much more complete answer!