this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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Many trams don't actually drive that fast. Some googling suggests this is Helsinki. Their trams run at 14km/h. That's easily slow enough to react to a kid running onto the track.
Also this seems to have roads on either side, so I don't think there would be many children playing in that area.
From the perspective of the tram driver there are a lot of trees along the tram way. Those trees could make a blind spot for the driver if a kid was playing along the tracks.
My point is that why replace one danger cars and then write off the other dangers as irrelevant. With some effort I think we can get both dealt with. However, if this is Helsinki how has this actually performed? That can help guide risk assessment too.
or you could just teach your children not to play on the tram tracks. the world is full of pointy edges. must we bubble wrap them all?
If we cannot teach adults to drive the proper speed successfully, to not be impaired, to not play with their mobiles, and to pay attention what hope do we have for kids?
I couldn't locate this particular spot but it's suggested to be in the city center. It might be this one: https://www.google.com/maps/@60.1690393,24.9398838,1100m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu
Kids aren't gonna randomly start playing there. If you look around on the linked map, there are parks all over the place. It is much more likely for kids to play there, where it's nice, than on some major road.
Google isn't spitting out any results no matter how I search for it but I'm under the impression that kids in Finland go to school on their own basically starting with kindergarten. At least there are plenty of countries where they do, so kids are obviously capable of navigating public space safely and independently. I know I did. I crossed 3 main roads on the way to kindergarten.
Could this be from Mäkelänkatu?
I live in america and kids play in the streets all the time and cars are a serious danger. Most of our urban streets are smaller than this and the cars are going much faster. 14kph is less than 9mph, and the lowest speed limits in my area go is 25mph. When these trams are going slow enough to run along side, the danger of hitting someone that you didn't see in time is FAR lower. Even if someone did manage to get hit by a tram at this speed (or slower because they would likely already be hitting the breaks) they are much less likely to be injured. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you that they could both be dangerous but you are talking about the danger of trams vs cars as if they are equal. Most of the necessary safety measures are already in place (ie, the 14kph speed) and I am far less worried about kids running around in a world of trams than a world of cars.