{"id":19231,"date":"2017-11-29T17:18:06","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T22:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=19231"},"modified":"2017-11-29T17:18:06","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T22:18:06","slug":"politics-as-usual-dangerous-crossings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-dangerous-crossings\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Dangerous Crossings"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking as a regular transit user I can say that the future plans for GO in Aurora are great for getting around the GTA.
\n I am excited about the new TTC stations at York and Vaughan, the two way service on the Barrie GO line and the cessation of the two zone transfer system on YRT\/VIVA .
\nObviously it\u2019s not all sunshine and roses.
\nThere are complex planning matters that still need to be addressed, but looking at the transit side of the news story, it all sounds pretty good.
\nHowever, lost in the discussion of transit planning and GO expansion and all the shiny stuff that goes along with it, is what to do about the current state of affairs at our various stations. And I am speaking in particular about safety at level crossings.
\nAurora has two level crossings at the station (in addition to a few further down from the station). You can\u2019t get to the west side of tracks \u2013 right now- without crossing the tracks directly. The pedestrian tunnel has been built but it isn\u2019t open yet so in the interim, folks have to navigate the level crossing every day when trying to catch the train or when trying to get home.
\nAnd it has led to some dangerous situations.
\nEvery day people \u2013 myself included on occasion \u2013 play Russian roulette with the train. When the train is in the station, the big safety arms come down, the lights start flashing and the siren blares. So, it\u2019s pretty obvious that one should not cross the tracks.
\nHowever, the train has to unload at the station. Hundreds of people have to get off the train before it closes its doors and then takes off. During that time, the train is just sitting there on the tracks. It can be as long as five minutes.
\nAnd that\u2019s where the dangerous behaviour kicks in.
\nWhen the train is on the tracks but not moving \u2013 arms down, lights and sirens blaring \u2013 commuters cross the tracks to get to the other side. Some commuters even run down the platform to beat the train. Running across the tracks as the train starts to move. They do this every day. And it seems like more and more people do it every day.
\nFull disclosure, I have done it myself a few times. The train is just sitting there. I know I can make it across in the few minutes it takes to cross it. How dangerous is that?
\nExtremely dangerous.
\nI needed to get to a meeting after work and wanted to get on my way so I followed the rest of the commuters \u2013 like lemmings it seems \u2013 across the tracks while the arms were down. Insanity!
\nSo, to recap, I risked my life, did something incredibly dangerous, to buy myself what? Four minutes? Just colossally stupid.
\nThe dangerous situation at Aurora GO has obviously caught the attention of GO Transit as they now have enormous signs at the station warning people that crossing the tracks while the arms are down is very, very dangerous. That\u2019s noble of them, but largely ineffectual.
\nWhat they need to do is start enforcing it, like they do at Union station. If you cross the tracks when the arms are down you should get a fine. Period. <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas Speaking as a regular transit user I can say that the future plans for GO in Aurora are great for getting around the GTA. I am excited about the new TTC stations at York and Vaughan, the two way service on the Barrie GO line and the cessation of the two zone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-50b","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 13:15:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}