Woman killed by Luas in Tallaght

Cordflex

A woman was killed after being hit by a Luas near Tallaght Hospital.

rte.ie/news/dublin/2019/0214/1029560-luas-collision-tallaght/

Luas Red Line services are badly affected.

Sorry to hear that. Is this the first Luas fatality?

Gael23

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. Is this the first Luas fatality?

I believe so

Deebles McBeebles

Genuine question, how? They always seem to move so slowly.

Somedaythefire

Deebles McBeebles wrote: »

Genuine question, how? They always seem to move so slowly.

Something with that much weight behind it hitting you at 40kmph is still going to be a big impact. They can reach up to 70kmph when they aren't around constant cars and pedestrians.

Blowfish

Deebles McBeebles wrote: »

Genuine question, how? They always seem to move so slowly.

This location is a longish straight bit between 2 stops. There's 2 pedestrian only crossings on the stretch and bushes seperating the tracks from pedestrians the rest of the way. Presumably this happened at one of the crossings, otherwise she would have to had climbed over some (admittedly not very high) bushes.

While not really wanting to speculate too much, it's difficult to see it being anything other than headphones/distracted while crossing as being the issue.

Captain Chaos

Deebles McBeebles wrote: »

Genuine question, how? They always seem to move so slowly.

Not where it happened they move at a good speed as it's straight run and away from traffic and people by a barrier.

You'd have to cross this to walk on the track if between the stops

LollipopJimmy

Gael23 wrote: »

I believe so

There's been a few fatalities, 4/5 anyway

andekwarhola

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. Is this the first Luas fatality?

Somebody was killed on Military Road a few years back as well, IIRC.

fryup

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

There's been a few fatalities, 4/5 anyway

don't mean to be flippant,

but 4 to 5 fatalities in what 15 years of operation ? in a busy city like Dublin is not bad to be fair

condolences, may she RIP

WMP

While not really wanting to speculate too much, it's difficult to see it being anything other than headphones/distracted while crossing as being the issue.[/QUOTE]

RIP, its sad news.

But yes its very likely she walked in front of the tram without looking. I'll get bashed for this, but women imo are much worse at this. I cycle and on a daily basis, girls/women will step out in front of me. Its unbelievable. I've never hit anyone but find it amusing that women very rarely look, and men almost always do.

Women pushing prams do exactly the same thing. In the majority of cases they are not on the phone, they just never think to look left or right.

starbaby2003

Why are the comments closed in the journal? That’s unusual for an accident isn’t it ?

Autecher

Another Luas death in Tallaght this morning. A 31 year old man was hit at Kingswood this time.

expectationlost

Autecher wrote: »

Another Luas death in Tallaght this morning. A 31 year old man was hit at Kingswood this time.

very little info on this

Yer Da sells Avon

expectationlost wrote: »

very little info on this

I drove past the scene shortly after it happened. It was a miserable, wet and very windy night. Possibly very little info to report, beyond it being a tragic accident.

Autecher

It turns out the woman killed by a Luas last month was a 70ish year old woman. Her age ranges from 70-75 in news reports so unlikely, though not impossible that it was a headphones/smartphone related death.

expectationlost

Autecher wrote: »

Another Luas death in Tallaght this morning. A 31 year old man was hit at Kingswood this time.

where did you get the age from?

hatrickpatrick

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

I drove past the scene shortly after it happened. It was a miserable, wet and very windy night. Possibly very little info to report, beyond it being a tragic accident.

Was going to say, I suspect it might have been a case of someone running or striding very quickly to get out of the weather, possibly with a hood or scarf pulled around their face and their head down, such that she wouldn't have actually seen if something was coming. Coupled with how windy it was, it's probable that she couldn't hear it either, even without headphones or being on a mobile. LUAS doesn't make a huge amount of noise compared to other types of train.

Very sad. I don't live anywhere near a LUAS line so the only time I ever really see it is in the city centre where it moves at a very slow pace, but I can imagine that it picks up a fair amount of speed once you're out of the canals, even just considering how fast the journey times are for some of the later stops with large distances between them. Never actually seen one driving at full tilt, but they'd have to get up to a fair speed in order to hit their targeted journey times for those stops.

EDIT: Oops, though this was referring to last night's weather and not an old thread! Probably still applies based on the comment I was replying to?

Autecher

expectationlost wrote: »

where did you get the age from?

That's what they said on Newstalk the day after it happened.

wakka12

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Was going to say, I suspect it might have been a case of someone running or striding very quickly to get out of the weather, possibly with a hood or scarf pulled around their face and their head down, such that she wouldn't have actually seen if something was coming. Coupled with how windy it was, it's probable that she couldn't hear it either, even without headphones or being on a mobile. LUAS doesn't make a huge amount of noise compared to other types of train.

Very sad. I don't live anywhere near a LUAS line so the only time I ever really see it is in the city centre where it moves at a very slow pace, but I can imagine that it picks up a fair amount of speed once you're out of the canals, even just considering how fast the journey times are for some of the later stops with large distances between them. Never actually seen one driving at full tilt, but they'd have to get up to a fair speed in order to hit their targeted journey times for those stops.

EDIT: Oops, though this was referring to last night's weather and not an old thread! Probably still applies based on the comment I was replying to?

Reaches speed of 70 km/hr in off street sections, which would almost 100% likely kill any pedestrian it struck

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/05/how-likely-you-are-to-get-killed-by-a-car-depending-on-its-speed/

branie2

Awful

Gael23

It would be very easy for a woman wearing high heel shoes to fall crossing the track.