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Wrong-way Toyotathon continues: Yet another Toyota driver winds up on Green Line tracks

By adamg on Thu, 12/19/2024 - 3:06pm
Toyota on the tracks at Boston College

Photo by Transit PD.

For the third time in two weeks, somebody in a Toyota wound up ensnared on Green Line tracks, this time at the end of the B Line at Boston College.

Transit Police report the driver of a Prius "somehow ended up" on the tracks around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Police said they will seek criminal charges against the 36-year-old driver, who did not have a license. T personnel checked the tracks to make sure they were OK and a tow-truck operator hauled the vehicle away and service resumed.

The streak of errant Toyotas began on Dec. 6, when a woman tried to head inbound on C Line tracks at Coolidge Corner and continued on Dec. 13, when an allegedly drunk New Yorker seemed to try the same move, with equally poor results, on the E Line at Brigham Circle.

Neighborhoods: 
Brighton
Topics: 
Driving
The T
Free tagging: 
B Line
Boston College
Green Line
Commonwealth Avenue


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Comments

By Nick Yudin on Thu, 12/19/2024 - 3:13pm.

Perhaps, something should be done to alert drivers about the tracks, rather than just blaming the drivers?

By spin_o_rama on Fri, 12/20/2024 - 10:18am.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/kJu9sLA2B6rfJM9C7

When a motorist is already driving on the wrong side of the road against traffic, what good is an alert about the tracks gonna do?

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By CH on Fri, 12/20/2024 - 10:26am.

The photo shows the car stuck facing eastbound having entered the tracks from the one-way westbound side of Comm Ave.

My guess is they were trying to make a U-turn after picking up an order from Playa Bowls, but we may never know. What we do know is that this driver was breaking traffic laws even if there hadn't been tracks there. If the road surface physically ending and giving way to the track bed and the existing one way, do not enter signs weren't enough for this driver, it may not be worth spending any additional mental energy trying to figure out how this somehow wasn't their fault.

Also worth remembering that this road/track configuration has been in place for decades and there's hardly been a rash of this sort of incident. What's changed is drivers paying more attention to their navigation app than to the real world outside the car. Any intervention here would need to be on the driver's phone screen, or else they wouldn't even notice it.

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By anon on Fri, 12/20/2024 - 10:38am.

Always getting blamed for confusing roads and railways.

Only a true enabler wouldn't see these drivers as a victim.

By JustinM on Thu, 12/19/2024 - 7:14pm.

Since we don't do pro-active traffic enforcement anymore, the Green Line tracks seem like one of the few ways left to catch the drunks and unlicensed drivers before they run someone over.

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By SwirlyGrrl on Thu, 12/19/2024 - 8:46pm.

Maybe we need more rail lines - gotta catch them all!

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By Anne Marie on Fri, 12/20/2024 - 7:37am.

Maybe add it as a police sobriety question. “Is it ok to drive on the trolly tracks?” A yes - you get more questions. A no - you get to go home.

By SamWack on Fri, 12/20/2024 - 9:05am.

I don't understand why the previous scheme, building the city next to the ocean, was not effective. You would think there would be drunks driving into the harbor every day, but it hardly ever happens.

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By anon on Thu, 12/19/2024 - 8:52pm.

My 1977 Cadillac Seville and I did that back in the mid 80s coming back from the Metro. But because cars were built solid back then , the car just bounced it's low riding power over the tracks right quick Six young women with big hair, high heels, and miniskirts and bustiers laughing, drinking and passing the straw and compact mirror. Those were the days.

By mg on Thu, 12/19/2024 - 9:29pm.

That will be a challenge. May need to be extra drunk for that one.

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By Sator on Fri, 12/20/2024 - 12:11am.

cannabis infused beverage

By anon on Fri, 12/20/2024 - 9:14am.

But it's not impossible

By octr202 on Fri, 12/20/2024 - 7:29pm.

From 6:25 Friday evening:

Green Line D branch: Shuttle buses replace service between Reservoir and Riverside due to an auto blocking the tracks at Eliot. Please expect delays as buses are dispatched.

By Doug L on Sat, 12/21/2024 - 8:28am.

https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1hiwoya/you_cant_park_there_mat...

By Sator on Fri, 12/20/2024 - 12:10am.

One tow over the line.

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