Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-05-27
BUS CRASH REPORT
HITS SAFEGUARDS.
Deaths of ID Pupils Blamed
on Driver and made
quate Warnings.

Responsibility for the Rockville
grade crossing crash. which took the
lives of IA school children when their
bus was hit by a Baltimore & Ohio
passenger train on the night of April
IL. was laid primarily to the bus
driver. Percy C. Line, and to made
ouate protection by the railroad in a
report today by the Interstate Com
merce Commission.
Drafted by the Bureau of Safety
of the commission after lengthy in
vestigation and signed by the director.
w. j. Patterson, the report made this
summation:
This accident was caused by a
school bus being driven upon a rail-
road crossing at grade directly in
front of rapidly approaching train
due primarily to the failure of the
driver to take adequate precautions
before starting over the crossing and
to inadequate protection of the cross
ing which resulted from failure of re-
sponsible authorities to enforce, and
of the railroad company to obey, the
law requiring maintenance of watch
man until II o'clock midnight"
NO Adequate Excuse"
Pointedly. the report says further:
THE evidence developed as a result
OF the investigation of this accident
clearly shows that there is no reason
able excuse 10 be offered for its &C.
currence.
Five recommendations are made:
That authorities take steps to en-
force all regulations for grade-cross-
ing protection, required in their Juris-
diction.
That continuous crossing protection
be provided permanently at this point.
by watchmen, riasnile lights, of other
visual signal devices TO give warning
at all times when traln is approach
ing.
That all holders of contracts for
transporting students by bus are thor
oughly instructed on the requirement
that all buses pe brought to full
stop at least IS feet from any grade
crossing, to enable the driver &c de-
terrnine definitely that there is no
danger. and that adequate Meas
ures be taken" TO insure that this
requirement is rigidly enforced and
obeyed.
That front end construction Of mo-
tor vehicles provide the driver with
a full view TO the side as we'll as the
front
And. finally. that whenever prac-
ticable, BUSES should be routed so
as to avoid grade crossings which are
not protected by watchmen or de-
vices to give VISUAL warning at all
times when train is approaching. y
The report is critical of the condl-
tions at the crossing. which now Is
proposed to be eliminated under a
Federal work-relief allotment.
The view at this crossing is not
good" it is declared. In fact the
conditions are such that for all prac-
teal purposes it is necessary for the
driver of a southbound vehicle to be
beyond the cross-bar sign before he
can obtain a good view Of train ap-
preaching from the west, and at that
point the front end of his vehicle,
especially in the case of large truck
or bus, would be dangerously close to
the westward track. While the view is
somewhat improved in the case OF a
northbcund vehicle, yet the need for
better protection than obtained at the
time of the accident is evident. The
circumstances surrounding the &C.
currence of this accident however
serve to emphasize the limitations of
any system of grade crossing protec-
ton which depends entirely upon
audible signals
Bells Inadequate.
Not only was it impossible when
close to the crossing involved in this
case to hear the engine bell of a
rapidly-moving train. but under GER
tain circumstances it also was i'm
possible, even when not occupying a
closed automobile, to hear the whistle
until the engine was less than $50 feet
distant. Crossing bells may have
constituted an adequate warning many
years ago, but they are insufficient
for modern methods of highway trans
portation. A much greater degree of
protection would be afforded by the
display of visual signal giving posi-
tive warning of the close approach
OF a train
The report points out that warning
elRllS. pdllteu on Tile pavement, were,
at the time of the accident, very in
distinct and in that condition were of
very little value" 1t adds that these
have been reprinted; that another
Waterman has been added. and that
red lights on the cross-bar signs have
been removed.
The commission investigation deter
mined. it was brought out, that Line
had seen this red-hght signal, but
was not certain what it was. He also
is quoted as saying that he did not
see the reflector button sign.
Several days after the accident"
the report says, Driver Line was ques-
toned again as to how he failed to
see the reflector button warning sign,
and he said he had been trying to
figure it out ever since he returned
home, but that if he did see it he did
not remember it,
SPECIAL NOTICES.