New gadget will stop tram if driver falls ill

A DEVICE to monitor the health of tram drivers is being developed to reduce the risk of serious crashes.

The technology is being funded by the bodies in charge of Edinburgh’s trams and they believe it could also be used for other forms of transport – and prevent incidents like the 2014 Glasgow bin lorry tragedy.

Edinburgh City Council and Edinburgh Trams are advertising for a firm to design a system that constantly checks its drivers.

If a driver is at risk of losing consciousness or focus through fatigue, illness, or a simple loss of alertness, the system would notify the control room and even trigger the brakes.

The Driver Innovation Safety Challenge ‘aims to support the development and delivery of a solution to identify and alert when a driver or operator is at risk of losing focus or consciousness when in charge of a vehicle or machinery... City of Edinburgh Council and Edinburgh Trams aims to reduce and mitigate the likelihood of fatigue and health-related incidents such as the Glasgow bin lorry and Sandilands Junction tram crashes’.

At Christmas in 2014, an out of control bin lorry ploughed through shoppers in Glasgow’s George Square. Six people were killed and another 15 were injured. It later emerged the driver had blacked out at the wheel.

In 2016, a tram crashed at the Sandilands Junction in Croydon, near London, killing seven and injuring a further 62 people after the driver fell into a ‘micro-sleep’.

A grant of £168,000 is available to develop the technology.

Mollie Kerr, commercial innovation and engagement officer at the council said: ‘We are trying to get a solution that identifies the problem before it happens.’