Tram Crashes Involving Pedestrians and Cyclists: A Severity Analysis

This study used data from Melbourne’s tram network to explore the severity of tram crashes and the relationship between pedestrian and cyclist involvement and tram crash severity. From 2012 to 2023, there were 639 tram crashes including 196 involving pedestrians and 40 involving cyclists. Approximately 46 percent of all tram crashes led to fatalities or serious injuries. The proportions of tram-pedestrian and tram-cyclist crashes with fatalities or serious injuries were high at about 57 percent. The results from a Bayesian mixed effect logistic regression model suggested that tram crashes involving pedestrians were 3.48 times more likely to be fatal or lead to serious injuries compared to tram-vehicle crashes. In addition, tram crashes involving cyclists were 2.22 times more likely to be more severe compared to tram-vehicle crashes. The impacts of crash-level variables such as speed limit and number of vehicles involved and area-wide variables such as population density, tram stop density and commercial land use on tram crash severity were also evident. The findings suggest a critical need to improve pedestrians’ and cyclists’ safety around tram routes.