Monday’s school bus-train collision in rural Larimore, North Dakota could spark renewed seat belt debate within the state legislature, reports Brandi Jewett of the Grand Forks Herald.
Bus driver Max Danner, 52, and student Cassidy Sandstrom, 17, were ejected and killed after a BNSF freight train collided with the bus as it was stopped on the railroad tracks. Twelve other students, some of whom were also ejected, were transported to an area hospital. Their conditions weren’t officially released but at least some of them suffered serious injuries. Dr. Roger Abbe, superintendent of Larimore Public School #44, told STN that the district would need to acquire at least one wheelchair-equipped school bus to service a student or students once they are released and able to return to school.
An initial North Dakota Highway Patrol report indicates that Danner skidded to a stop on a gravel road that intersected with the rail crossing, and the front portion of the bus came to a rest on the tracks at about the same time the train struck it.
Dr. Abbe added that Danner was a 20-year veteran driver as well as a shop and agriculture teacher for the district. He would not comment on the investigation but called Danner “one of, if not the safest” drivers the district had.
Additionally, a Facebook post on the Knox Radio Grand Forks page with information purportedly sent by the family of Sandstrom describes how the collision occurred. According to the post, the students saw Danner slump over the wheel and the bus came to rest on the train tracks. At that point, Sandstrom is said to have ushered all the other students to the back of the bus, before unbuckling Danner and dragging him out of his seat, as she was attempting to put the bus in reverse to remove it from the tracks … all of this allegedly occuring before the train slammed into the bus. It seems to contradict initial reports from the North Dakota Highway Patrol, which characterized the collision as happening rather quickly, adding that the BSNF train conductor and engineer had little if any time to apply the brakes.
Spokesman Lt. Tom Iverson told us that the Highway Patrol was aware of the social media post and that it was still too early to make any assumptions as to what really happened, and it remained unknown if Danner suffered any type of medical emergency behind the wheel. He said troopers were continuing their interviews of witnesses and the passengers and were awaiting further crash and medical information to be finalized before it could conclude its investigation and determine the exact cause.
After conducting an extensive review, Knox County Schools in Tennessee found that five of its school bus drivers, all of whom worked for a contractor, were not fully licensed. The review came after an investigation following a fatal crash last month uncovered that one of the drivers involved did not have the proper license.
Local news reported that all five drivers hold valid commercial licenses, however their school bus endorsements were in permit status, which means they could only drive a school bus if another fully licensed school bus driver on board.
The contracts of the companies that employed these drivers were also placed under review, and the district said it would be terminating these next year.
Harried commuters not the only ones who fail to stop for stopped school buses, as a crash this week in Gwinnett County, Georgia showed. A county transit bus rear-ended a Honda Accord that had been traveling eastbound and stopped for a school bus with an extended stop arm on the other side of the road. After being struck by the transit bus, the Honda left the scene for unknown reasons, said police.
TRB’s Robert E. SkinnerThe Transportation Research Board announced that Executive Director Robert E. Skinner is retiring after more than 30 years with the National Academies.
As he prepared for his final TRB Annual Meeting that was set to begin, AASHTO’s TransportationTV interviewed Skinner at the end of 2014 about his career and his role in growing the conference, which is expected to have 12,000 attendees this year, the 94th installment.
He also discussed his successor, Neil Pederson, a former state highway administrator for Maryland and more recently the director of TRB’s stragegic highway research program.
“Neil’s a terrific choice, and great for TRB and great for the community,” Skinner said.
The interview highlights Skinner’s career at TRB.
The California Air Resources Board released a study in November that combats assertions made by some truck and bus operators, who claim diesel particulate filters are rife with problems. CARB said its report of 400 trucks and 41 fleets with reported problems finds that DPFs generally work as designed, reported Bus & Motorcoach News, and that widespread problems with the emissions control equipment cited by operators is more likely due to mechanical or maintenance issues.
“Rather than being the source of the problem, it appears that diesel particulate filters are uncovering pre-existing engine issues,” said Kim Heroy-Rogalski of CARB’s Mobile Source Control Division.
She added that a “small fraction” of engine problems can reduce the effectiveness of DPFs.
The Alliance for California Business is suing CARB, alleging that DPFs are mechanically flawed and lead to vehicle breakdowns.
While the “Alberta Clipper” winter storm slammed much of the U.S., many school buses and schools were still up and running. John Benish, Jr., the chief operating officer at Chicagoland contractor Cook-Illinois Corporation, sent us this photo showing the frozen tundra of a school bus yard as the vehicles come to life in the early morning freeze to start routes. Benish added there were no issues with the operation of any buses despite a morning low of -12 degrees.
A Cook-Illinois Corporation school bus yard the morning of Jan. 8. The buses started fine despite -12 degree weather.
