Description
At approx 3pm April 29th an Eastern Bus company bus (CPS contracted bus) failed to stop for the train and was caught with crossing bar on the top of the bus. This should be reported to the police and bus company
At approx 3pm April 29th an Eastern Bus company bus (CPS contracted bus) failed to stop for the train and was caught with crossing bar on the top of the bus. This should be reported to the police and bus company
16 Comments
City of Cambridge (Verified Official)
Anonymous (Registered User)
JDH (Registered User)
freddy (Registered User)
Is there a visual obstruction like foliage requiring the driver to inch forward to see down the tracks? Also, the FTA must be contacted to investigate this incident.
Ya they’re supposed to slow well before the tracks, stop and look both ways.
What happened here? Inattentive driver? Brake failure? Poorly trained driver? Bad crossing layout?
Anonymous (Registered User)
freddy (Registered User)
Acknowledged City Hall - FG (Verified Official)
freddy (Registered User)
freddy (Registered User)
freddy (Registered User)
A quiet zone is not appropriate at this crossing.
https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media/Files/Traffic/shermanstreetrailcrossingdocuments/usdotasmapprovalletterof112619forshermanstrailroadcrossing.pdf
jk02140 (Registered User)
@freddy: quiet zone or not, and sight lines or not, the flashing red lights are supposed to be on early enough to warn drivers, not just of cars but of large vehicles like school buses, to stay out of the path, not only of oncoming trains, but of the dropping gate/ barrier. The reason for such lights and and gates, at least as I understood it in what Anonymous described as Driver's Ed 101, is precisely so that drivers don't have to drive past the gates to look down the tracks to see if something is coming and whether they can beat it across the tracks before it arrives. If there were no lights and no gate, then the responsibility would rest with the driver to stop and stop in a place were they could look. But, with the intersection/crossing pictured the school bus ended up past the flashing lights and with the gate arm resting on it, either the lights and gate are improperly timed to keep vehicles away from the tracks when a train is approaching, or there was some problem with the bus driver's decisions and behavior.
The most obvious possible problem involved deciding to try to get past the crossing before the train arrived, looking, seeing the train, and, fortunately, changing their minds and stopped just short of the tracks. There are other possibilities and, as you point out, only a serious investigation can determine what happened (possibly including whether a train passing through that part of Cambridge blowing its horn and/or whistle might have made any difference.
But I have trouble figuring out what the quiet zone has to do with this if, for whatever reason, the driver ended up past the signs and flashing red lights with the gate on top of the bus.
freddy (Registered User)
freddy (Registered User)
City Hall - FG (Verified Official)
City of Cambridge (Verified Official)
freddy (Registered User)