School Bus Transportation News at STN Media

NTSB Announces Status of Recommendations for
School Bus Passive Grade Crossings

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Transportation Safety Board met on Sept. 6 to review its “Most Wanted Safety List,” which includes the safety of school bus travel at railroad grade crossings through its “Look, Listen and Live” campaign, and found there is still plenty of work to do.

The board found 36 states have made partial or to sufficient progress in meeting the five recommendations in H-01-38, which was prompted by the fatal 2000 Conasauga, Tenn., school bus-train crash. Partial was defined as one implemented recommendation with sufficient meaning three of five.

Thirty-three of those states have enhanced school bus driver training and evaluation for navigating passive grade crossings, which the NTSB said infrequently result in accidents but, when they do occur, can be disastrous, such as the aforementioned 2000 school bus accident on the Tennessee-Georgia border. Sixteen states require an school bus CDL exam question on properly crossing passive grades, another 16 now require noise-reducing switches onboard newly purchased school buses to mute the radio, heater and air, and yet another 16 have included enhanced driver training. Only six states have responded to recommendations that stop signs be installed at passive crossings.

Twenty-one states received acceptable ratings from the NTSB for satisfying three of the four recommendations. Six states — Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and New Mexico — have complied with as many as four of the five recommendations. The board then voted to keep H-01-38 on the NTSB Most Wanted List.

A detailed breakdown by state is available at the NTSB Web site.

The Most Wanted List was established in 1990 as a way for the Safety Board to focus attention on needed safety improvements in all modes of transportation. The list highlights recommendations that, if implemented, the safety board believes will have a significant impact on reducing deaths and injuries.

After the hearing, staff member Bruce Magladry briefed members on the school bus safety record, namely that, per every 100 million passenger miles, it is nine times safer for students to travel on the school bus (0.01) during the normal school commute than via other passenger vehicles (0.96). It is also more than twice as safe as commercial airline travel (0.06).