Tracking the tracks

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« Inside an Investigation |Main| On the road again »

2:05 PM Tue, Feb 06, 2007 | Permalink

It's a dangerous mix. School buses and railroad crossings. The Feds say gates and lights should be at every crossing where there is substantial bus traffic. We were surprised to find out the state had done very little work tracking school bus data. The crossing information was pretty easy to obtain. In less than a week, we got information from the major school districts in Western Washington.

Some districts didn't have the ability to get the information quickly, most did. If the state did some checking they would find many districts route around the tracks.
Seattle, Shoreline, Federal Way and Everett had zero bus trips over railroad crossings each day.
On the high side, Clover Park had more than 500. Tacoma estimated more than 2000 but could not break down the numbers by each crossing.
Other states have at least made the attempt to obtain the school bus data. The level of success varies, but at least they have tried.
The federal government has little interest in the data even though they keep asking for it. In fact, the Feds, who keep a national crossing database, is not tracking who is sending in the information and who isn't. We have even seen reports where the wrong information is being sent and entered into that database.
Washington State says it will look at school bus information on a going-forward basis.
But our expert says having all of the data is crucial to the safety of children.
So what's your opinion?
Should the state continue its current policy of only checking for school bus data on new and updated crossings? Or should it go back and get the data for all school bus/railroad crossings?

3 Comments

Don Lewis said:

Interesting story, but I have some questions and comments. Why does the expert say the information is curcial? Many laws and rules are in place regarding school bus safety and operations. The code of Federal Regulations (CFR) title 49 CFR 390.5 defines a school bus as a commercial motor vehicle(CMV). CFR 392.11 requires a CMV to slow down and determine the crossing is safe before crossing. SPI's WAC regulations WAC 392-145-030 requires all school bus drivers to stop at any uncontrolled crossing, open the door and look and listen before crossing.

My next question, who is to pay and maintain these gates at crossings. I believe the RR and State share the costs now.

February 8, 2007 9:56 AM

Robert Pines said:

So if you do a passenger train check in the same pathetic Federal railroad records the data is as cobbled up as are school buses.

But in the same FED site it says the records are not legal to use in court. How convenient for the murdering railroads and their state/Federal handmaidens huh?

February 13, 2007 9:05 PM

Michelle Flory said:

I believe that the responsibilty falls on the driver as well as the district and the railroad. The driver should make sure it is all clear before crossing any tracks it should not make any difference if there are barriers or not. The district should be making sure that the people they contract with are providing safe transportation. The railroad should be putting these barriers up at all roads to help prevent any accidents.

March 5, 2007 4:11 PM

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