San Francisco’s cable cars are a top tourist attraction, known throughout the country as a symbol of the city itself. Unfortunately, the cable cars are also a common source of accidents and injuries, according to a recent article by the Associated Press. Many San Jose injury attorneys have seen the harm cable car crashes have caused their clients.
Currently, San Francisco’s cable car system averages about one accident per month, according to the city. The U.S. Department of Transportation regularly ranks the cable cars among the forms of U.S. public transportation most likely to cause serious accidents, per mile traveled.
San Francisco has reported 126 cable car accidents causing 151 injuries in the past ten years. Most recently, seven people were injured when a cable car hit a bolt in its track and slammed to a halt, throwing workers and passengers around inside the vehicle.
Accidents like these cost the city millions of dollars each year as it pays to settle injury cases involving broken bones, run-over limbs, and other severe injuries suffered by cable car riders. In the past three years alone, about 48 claims cost the city a total of $8 million, according to an Associated Press investigation.
Although the risks associated with cable car rides are high, the city has not stated it has plans to retire them. Instead, the city’s mayor stated that San Francisco continually works to improve cable-car safety and to preserve the cars as befits their status as National Historic Landmarks.