While not many Gold Coast tram drivers have experienced a collision even since opening day, it is a job requiring people who are a little bit tough at least.
With near misses every now and then, drivers would be less rattled by an actual hit. So I think the reaction to hitting something would be more of mild surprise than actual shock.
Although the tram speed along here is 60km/h, the same as the road speed here, at the road crossings between stops all drivers slow their trams noticeably and look around in anticipation that a motorist may ignore red traffic lights.
So in this case, the driver probably had the track brakes on before the impact which did hit the car amidships as Mal said. The car was not crumpled in savagely.
As far as the passengers were concerned, they probably felt nothing except the track brakes.
On the two TV news reports I did not hear any mention of a derailment and the tram looked to be straight. ‘Back on the tracks’ may well have been a poor choice of words by a naïve reporter.
It was not clear exactly where the collision took place, but as Broadbeach was mentioned is was probably well down the line. With the nearest crossover back in the middle of Surfers Paradise, this is just another time when a crossover further south could have been quite useful.
I had plenty of hits when I was driving. We simply got out, got name and contact details from the driver and were mostly off and away in under 5 minutes. Then the irritation of writing up an accident report when back at the depot, but that paid 15 minutes of overtime anyway.
Regards,
> On 22 May 2020, at 10:50 am, 'Alex Cowie' via TramsDownUnder tramsdownunder@...> wrote:
>
>
> I imagine that the driver of the tram would have a number of concerns to deal with in the aftermath of the collision: an immediate shock reaction, a need to commuicate with tram operations and emergency services, a need to ensure the tram was in a safe physical condition and a need to ensure the safety of the passengers from road accident and physical threat. How would we react under such circumstances?
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> Alex C - who notes the derailment was a passing reference in the report wrap-up and didn't feature in any video footage
>
>> On Friday, May 22, 2020 at 7:28:05 AM UTC+9:30, TP wrote:
>> Another one of those useless two-rooms-and-a-bath trams derailed by a tap on the nose by a little lightweight car.
>>
>> I love the unyielding enforcement of OH&S when passengers were begging to be let off the tram to have a go at the offenders. The line obviously needs to be operated by Sydney P class! I'm hearing often about people being trapped in these trams in Australia. Surely there's an emergency door release like on buses? What happens if there's a fire and the driver is disabled?
>>
>> Tony P
>
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