When a machine weighs 42 tonnes, travels at 70km/h and takes twice its 33-metre length to come to a complete stop, that sounds like a pretty good reason not to step, ride or drive anywhere near it.
But so far this year, Canberra Metro tram drivers have had to yank back swiftly on the drive controller at their left hand to the full emergency stop position 21 times to avoid crashing into a car, pedestrian, cyclist or e-scooter rider.
And those 21 emergency stops - which involve all three braking systems, including the standard car-like disc brakes, the electronic braking and magnetic clamps - don't include the other many instances where a last-minute frantic ding of the bell has caused a wayward pedestrian to look up, usually in surprise, to find a flouro-clad tram driver eyeballing them from a metre or two away.
As police admit, so far it's been sheer luck that no-one has been killed.
One of the most serious incidents was in June last year when a pedestrian was badly injured after being hit by a tram on Northbourne Avenue near Ipima Street around 7.30am, throwing the morning commute on one of Canberra's busiest thoroughfares into chaos.
With four years of light rail operation coming up in April, the spike in near misses so far in just over two months has led to a heightened level of concern from police and Canberra Metro.
"It is very stressful for our staff and the more we can work together, the more we can all stay safe," Bruno Lancelot, Canberra Metro's general manager said.
Canberra's Spanish-built trams do not have automated emergency braking which is now common on modern passenger cars. And the weight of the machines - as much as 60 tonnes when carrying a full complement of passengers - results in a far longer stopping distance than other vehicles, not counting the reaction time of the driver.
"It is a line-of-sight principle for the drivers. and we train them to be really aware of their environment so they can apply the brakes if needed," Mr Lancelot said.
"On average every three days we apply the emergency brakes but that doesn't count the other near misses or instances where they [the drivers] have had to really slow down to avoid an incident."
All road users are equally to blame although one of the biggest issues is that of pedestrian distraction.
Detective Inspector Paul Hutcheson, in charge of road policing, said that pedestrians, bike riders and e-scooter riders using mobile phones and noise-cancelling headphones create a problem "because [the devices] take away your attention".
"If you are on your mobile phone and coming up to road, it's time to look away from it, turn your noise-cancelling headphones off and use all your senses to get across that roadway safely," he said.
"If the tram driver hasn't been able to take that speed off [before the collision] , then it's going to be a serious incident with potentially very serious outcomes."
Every incident on the Canberra Metro line requires the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator to be provided with a full report.
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