OC TRANSPO MUST STOP AT RAIL CROSSINGS

City hall has found another useless way to spend more of our money. They’ve hired a consultant to study whether it would be safer to have OC Transpo buses stop at railway crossings or not. The first thing is spending money to waste on a consultant for an exercise that doesn’t need much further study. It’s not like there’s no case studies already in Canada. Every school bus in Canada stops at every railway crossing everywhere. No ifs ands or buts. It’s the law. Every commercial vehicle engaged in the transport of dangerous goods must stop at every railway crossing everywhere. In most cities across Canada, ones that are only subject to provincial rules, public transport vehicles must stop at every rail crossing everywhere. Ottawa is in a unique position being that some of our city buses cross a provincial boundary thus only Federal regulations kick in. Federal regulations supersede Provincial regulations in such cases. All city council needs to do, is pass a regulation requiring OC Transpo buses follow the rules and regulations to stop at all railway crossings. The smoke screen of even talking about it being less safe is absolutely without merit. Trucks with Dangerous Goods; Intercity Buses; School Buses all, as they are approaching a rail crossing engage their four way flashers and slow to a stop. Once stopped, they are required to roll down the windows in the case of trucks, open the doors in the case of buses, listen, look and then proceed across the track without changing a gear while crossing. It’s not rocket science. It’s well written into existing regulations. As for the myth that it’s unsafe and that cars will be crashing into the bus, that’s utter nonsense. If someone crashes into a stopped bus even stopped on the travel lane of a highway speed road, then they shouldn’t be in possession of a driver’s license in the first place. As to the nonsense of “well we might stall out on the tracks”. If you’re going to stall out, then you’ll risk stalling out at the twenty kilometres per hour that is the legal speed limit crossing any rail crossing in the country or at acceleration. Stop this waste of time effort and money and just pass the bylaw ensuring OC Transpo falls in line with the rest of the country having our public transportation vehicles stop at rail crossings period full stop. And furthermore, have the police ensure compliance of the speed limit while crossing railway tracks. It’s 20 kmph people. Slow down and don’t be a statistic. G. Ray Gompf, CD Ottawa, Ontario.