More than 70 LRT crashes reported in Waterloo Region within the last year

CTV’s Heather Senoran speaks to someone who was onboard an LRT train when it was forced off the tracks by a collision.

There have been dozens of crashes involving Waterloo Region’s light rail transit (LRT) train within the last year.

“In the last 365 days, we’ve had 74 collisions with the LRT within the region and 22 of those involved injuries to the drivers or to other people that were involved in the collision,” Waterloo Regional Police Staff Sgt. Scott Metcalfe said.

One of those incidents happened on Tuesday as an LRT train was travelling along King Street West near Andrew Street in Kitchener, Ont.

Security footage taken from a nearby balcony, and shared with CTV News, shows the moment of impact. A white truck turned left in front of the train around 11 a.m. and was hit. The vehicle spun and was pinned against a utility pole. The impact forced the train off its tracks.

No one was hurt in the crash, but the driver of the truck, a 41-year-old man, was charged with careless driving.

Josh Eckert was trying to get to work on the LRT at the time.

“It was just a loud boom, basically. And then the train shook,” he recalled.

He said everyone on the train was frazzled and didn’t know what was happening.

“In the moment there was chaos because everyone was freaking out as soon as the first hit,” Eckert said.

Eckert took a photo of the truck driver’s side mirror that came off during the crash and flew into the train. He said the mirror didn’t hit anyone.

Safety concerns

There are signs at the intersection where Tuesday’s collision happened that say no U-turns or left turns are allowed.

Young Drivers of Canada said some drivers don’t pay attention to signs, or, in some cases, choose to ignore them.

“I think the big thing is to look around and be aware because there’s extra signage at those places,” Faith Morphy, a driving instructor with Young Drivers of Canada, said.

“We need to check our blind spots over our shoulder because the train likely came out of the blind spot,” she said.

Police also warned that in many cases, drivers won’t hear the train coming before it is too late.

“It is electrically powered, so it doesn’t have that auditory piece that other motor vehicles might have that are powered by diesel or gasoline,” Metcalfe said.