Tourists and beachgoers roamed the Ocean City Boardwalk on Wednesday afternoon, as is customary on any August day, but a couple of indicators illustrated the tragedy that befell the vacation town this week.
No trams carried visitors up and down the boardwalk. And on a planter near Dorchester Street sat a collection of more than a dozen stuffed animals, an impromptu memorial for a toddler struck and killed by a tram Tuesday night. The 2-year-old boy was declared dead at the scene.
Around 8:14 p.m. that evening, the child had been “crossing the Boardwalk tram pad” when a southbound train struck him, according to a news release from the town of Ocean City. Archived video shows a typical crowd of pedestrians walking the strip, before police set up caution tape and blocked off the scene shortly after the incident.
Local authorities have not yet identified the child, but the town has suspended operation of the trams.
“A potential date for service restoration has not yet been determined,” the town’s website states.
Mayor Rick Meehan said in a statement that there are “no words to convey the profound sadness we feel for the family and their unimaginable loss.”
“Ocean City is a tight-knit community, and we grieve together in times like these,” he said, in part. “We are committed to supporting the family and ensuring that everything possible is done to prevent such tragedies in the future.”
Trams, composed of a Jeep pulling two wagons, shuttle people along a roughly 2-mile path, adjacent to a pedestrian walkway. One tram can hold up to 75 people, according to OceanCity.com, and a one-way ride costs $5.
The trams first began operation in 1964 and, at a Mayor and City Council meeting this past April, attendees discussed ways to celebrate their 60th anniversary. Instead, residents are left making sense of a devastating incident.
Irina Ilina, an Ocean City resident, described it as a “horrible tragedy” for the family and town.
The incident marked the first tram-related fatality in recent memory, according to residents, but locals had warned previously of potential dangers. A 2015 task force, composed of five people appointed by Meehan, analyzed boardwalk regulations as it related to street performers. The task force focused on where artists and vendors could perform, but it also discussed tram safety.
Mark Chase, a performing visual artist who has created spray-paint art in Ocean City since 2010, was on that task force. At the time, he noted that trams traveling near large crowds of people on the boardwalk could result in someone getting “hurt.”
“Because we’ve all seen the tram,” Chase said in 2015. “They don’t slow down. They just honk and keep going.”
As a result of the task force, the city established locations where street performers could and could not perform. They cannot perform, for example, near Dorchester Street, where Tuesday’s fatality occurred.
Reached Wednesday by The Baltimore Sun, Chase echoed the concerns he had nearly a decade ago. Given crowds on the boardwalk, Chase said on a daily basis, he witnesses at least 20 “close calls” of the tram nearly hitting someone. Once, he said, the tram’s side mirror struck him.
“It was inevitable,” Chase said of Tuesday’s tragedy.
The problem, in his estimation, is the tram being too large, especially when a northbound tram and a southbound tram have to pass one another in a narrow area.
“The tram width is far too big for the population density that’s down there on most days,” he said.
Chase, who formerly held a Commercial Driver’s License when he drove a construction tanker and then a school bus, also worried about the ability of the tram to brake. When full of people, the tram can weigh several thousand pounds. (Asked for details on the incident, including roughly how quickly a tram could brake, a spokesperson for the town of Ocean City did not reply.)
“[They’re] not designed with the braking power to basically stop a U-Haul behind them,” Chase said.
Some tram drivers have their CDL, but they are not required to, according to OceanCity.com.
Tram safety also is mentioned when groups apply for private event permits. According to permits outlined during the April meeting of the mayor and City Council, one of the stipulations for hosting a private event in that area is to, “Keep the tram lane clear of event participants and spectators.”
Although the Ocean City tram serves hundreds of thousands of riders annually without incident, there have been similar issues elsewhere around the country and world. A 3-year-old was hit and killed by a tram in Hong Kong last week and, in April, a tram threw multiple riders to the ground after it hit a guardrail at Universal Studios Hollywood in California.
Transportation experts and advocates say that certifying 100% safety on any mode of transportation — from trams to ferries to automobiles to elevators — is impossible, but efforts are made to mitigate risk as much as possible.
In a news release, the town of Ocean City said it is “fully cooperating with law enforcement and relevant authorities in their ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
“The Town asks the community to join us in keeping the family in their thoughts and prayers during this time of mourning,” the statement said.
