Specifically rebuilding the pedestrian crossings on some (very few) older crossings. Most of my compliments were somewhat sarcastic and mainly for doing something. It took them 20+ years and many lives lost to change existing crossings. If they are proactive and change other "potential" crossings where no-one has died of been hit then they are being proactive and setting a new standard. If everything that comes from my large mouth is 100% negative then they close their ears. The documentary didn't show all of what I said just like interviewing with KGW or KOIN, they refuse to play the facts and only play the opinion. Facts get the changes, opinions get just that more opinions.
Facts
Sandi Day took an illegal left hand turn
Hit five in the crosswalk going three times faster than "trained"
Drug them 60 ft
Backed over them when trained not to move the bus
Drive over them again when trained not to move the bus
Turned the bus off only to Kneel on them when trained not to turn bus off
Trained to own the road in turns
Made an effort to make a courtesy stop where a courtesy should NOT be made for that scheduled turn
Trimet sanctioned by a fed judge, first time in history a municipality was sanctioned by a judge for hiding documents.
Trimet continues to make poor choices on mirror
placement on new buses when studies are proving top down mounted mirrors
are safer and requested after drivers use them for a while
Trimet and the union continue to not include the users(drivers) in the purchases and decisions made for the drivers job.
They
are getting better at at least being reactive to crashes and not just
having an "oh well, just pay the death claim" attitude. I must
find a positive, Trimet is like raising kids, if you are always chewing
their ass out and telling them they are worthless, even if you think
they are, say something positive or they just right you off as a prick
with nothing good to say.
Fundamentally they only care about the
bottom line, their pay check. Pedestrians just simply get in the way and
drivers are reminded of that daily.
3 comments:
"Trimet continues to make poor choices on mirror placement on new buses when studies are proving top down mounted mirrors are safer and requested after drivers use them for a while"
Has Trimet made ANY changes to the mounting or size of the left mirror??
At least the transit agency I retired from finally finished retrofitting their entire fleet with smaller and lower-mounted left mirrors and have ordered those smaller and lower-mounted mirrors on all their new bus procurements since the mid-2000s.
The agency I worked for has a larger fleet than Trimet so I'm sure the cost to retrofit the fleet was substantial but if it will save lives, then obviously is well worth the cost.
It also greatly reduces the stress level of those operators who choose to sit lower in the seat or are shorter in stature as they now have a clear field of vision over the top of the left mirror.
As Mr. Sale has reiterated many times, the ideal position of the left mirror on a transit bus should probably be a top-down-mounted one so the driver is looking slightly upward when viewing the mirror. But in my opinion, either position is acceptable ...where the driver is either looking slightly downward or slightly upward when viewing the mirror. It does NOT have to be directly at eye-level as some seem to insist is ideal so the eye doesn't have to scan down or up to view the mirror. By mounting the mirror at eye-level, it creates a huge blind area that doesn't have to exist if the mirror head was mounted as we've described.
Changing the position of the left mirror will save lives. I guarantee it. All I can say at this point is that Messrs. McFarlane and Sapporta will have the blood of the next person killed in Portland by a left turning bus, on their hands. Let's hope it never happens but by not changing the position of the left mirror, it makes it MUCH more possible.
http://articles.philly.com/2013-02-12/news/37041367_1_bus-drivers-septa-officials-three-pedestrians
(To Sandi Day, if you are reading this, please contact me. I'm interested on how you are doing:
http://rantingsofatrimetbusdriver.blogspot.com/2013/04/great-story-from-regular-reader.html?showComment=1366952013772#c7382302125775215375
...if this is you)
Mr. Sale leaves out a few facts when he describes the behavior of Ms Day on 10/24/2010. Like an individual beating on her to move the bus, also no facts Support the driver lowered the bus.
Anonymous-
I knower why you are anonymous, the crash was 4/24/10 not 10/24/10,
No proof she turned the bus off?, read the police report or EMT report whom lifted the bus off my daughter stuck I the right wheel well when Stephanie Realtos was standing on my daughter above the wheel well when Sandi Day turned the bus off.
You could be right, the police report and the reconstruction and witnesses are all lying just to make Sandi Day look bad, NOT! Stay anonymous, it keeps your job at Trimet.
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