Wainwright seeks backing for railroad bus exemption

[DET63]

State Rep. William Wainwright said he needs more support from several agencies before he would push for legislation exempting school and activity buses from stopping at the James City railroad crossing.
Wainwright, D-Craven County, said in a meeting with school officials on Friday that he needed to hear that the N.C. Highway Patrol was in support of an exemption, since he has received two to three calls from parents who are against the proposal.

“I think it’s the right thing to do, but I don’t want to get hung out there,” Wainwright said.

“The last thing we want to have happen to us is all of a sudden, all of the parents come out of the woodworks against the legislation. We do need to know that we have the majority of the parents in support.”

Local school and county officials have passed resolutions in support of getting an exemption for school and activity buses from stopping at the James City crossing after a number of accidents, including at least one fatality, with buses have occurred at the site.

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The accidents involved buses and cars, not trains.

 

[MattW]

If it's only one crossing and it has the exempt sign, and there are physical gates across the tracks, then I say go for it. Only one little sticking point of contention in my mind is that complacency kills. Yes, this is ONE crossing, but what happens if a bus driver on this route drives another one which crosses active railroad tracks? And they forget that not every crossing is exempt? I still don't see why there could be accidents there. There are numerous industrial spurs around my hometown which are rarely used which buses have to stop at. If the buses could be hit at this "exempt" crossing, then they could be hit at any lesser-used crossing. I highly doubt that every car and vehicle following a school bus looks for the exempt sign and expects the bus not to stop...

 

[amtrakwolverine]

besides those who rear end a school bus can't read sense most have a sign that say this vehicle stops at ALL RR crossing.

 

[DET63]

besides those who rear end a school bus can't read sense most have a sign that say this vehicle stops at ALL RR crossing.

Not really. Usually signs such as wolverine describes are found on vans used as school buses, as public-transit buses, or simply for the transport of children to and from preschools and the like.

Most school bus drivers are trained to go through a specific procedure prior to stopping at a RR crossing, however, which includes activating the turn signal or 4-way flashers to alert following drivers that the bus is about to stop or, where possible, pull over to the side of the road.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

Its an interesting idea, since my ride to and from school involves crossing over the Conrail Southern Secondary. There are 2 to 4 trains a week, usually in the early evening, but the bus comes to a stop every time. I don't think this line would qualify since officially its a bustling secondary.