Those who travel by tram in Vienna sometimes disembark directly onto the roadway at certain stops, rather than onto a dedicated platform. This can become dangerous if drivers do not stop in time. New warning announcements in the trams of Wiener Linien are intended to alert passengers to such situations in the future.

In Vienna-Penzing, a corresponding proposal by FPÖ district councilors Andrea Dunker and Bernhard Patzer was accepted by a majority. The responsible city councilor for transport, Ulli Sima (SPÖ), is now to examine or implement a pilot project together with Wiener Linien.

The new announcement could serve as an important orientation aid, especially for blind and visually impaired people.

The proposal suggests supplementing existing station announcements with an additional safety notice.

The wording should be:

This is intended to inform passengers before the doors open that they will step directly onto the roadway when disembarking.

This notice could be particularly important for people who are unfamiliar with a stop or who cannot fully comprehend the traffic situation due to a visual impairment.

According to the applicants, a comparable warning system already exists with the Berlin public transport company. There, announcements warn of disembarking onto the roadway at the relevant stops.

As a concrete example, the initiators mention the Lützowgasse stop of tram line 52 in the outbound direction.

There, passengers must board and alight directly on the roadway.

According to the district councilors, other stops with similar situations include Deutschordenstraße, Reinlgasse, and Linzer Straße/Johnstraße.

The applicants see a safety risk especially when drivers ignore their duty to wait and drive past a stationary tram.

The additional announcement is intended to increase passengers‘ attention and thereby help avoid dangerous situations.

At stops without their own platform, passengers must pay special attention to road traffic when boarding or alighting.

According to Austrian traffic regulations, drivers must take special care of boarding and alighting persons when a tram is stationary. Drivers may only pass on the side where passengers are boarding or alighting if the doors are closed and no one is endangered. Walking speed applies in this case.

According to the applicants, however, this duty to wait is often ignored in practice. The current report does not contain specific accident figures for the four mentioned stops. Therefore, it is not proven that particularly many accidents occur there.

The planned announcements are intended not only to increase general safety but also to improve accessibility.

For blind and visually impaired passengers, it can be difficult to determine before alighting whether they are stepping onto a protected platform or directly onto the roadway.

An acoustic warning could convey this information in a timely manner. Even people unfamiliar with the area could benefit from it.

According to the report, the FPÖ district councilors have asked several disability and blind associations for an independent professional assessment and possible improvement suggestions. It is not known whether and which feedback has already been received.

The motion was approved by a majority in the Penzing district council. This requests Traffic Councillor Ulli Sima to implement a corresponding pilot project together with the Wiener Linien.

However, this does not yet mean that the new warning announcements have already been introduced. A specific start date, a final selection of stops, and a binding commitment from Wiener Linien are not mentioned in the current report.

If the pilot project proves successful, the applicants envision a possible expansion to other suitable stops in Vienna.

If Wiener Linien implements the pilot project, passengers at selected stops would in the future also be acoustically warned before stepping onto the roadway. For this, the existing station announcements would need to be appropriately supplemented.

It is currently unclear whether the notices will be tested only at individual stops on line 52 or on several tram lines. There are also no details yet on the technical implementation and possible costs.

For Vienna passengers, it remains to be seen if and when the proposed warning announcements will actually be introduced.

(Ed.)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article .