Henderson Texas school bus vs UP train.

[charlie hebdo]

A 78-year old school bus driver?  What could possibly go wrong? 

[Overmod]

blue streak 1

in this state a school bus driver is required to stop not closer than 15 feet from track, open door to listen, then close door and cross.

That was the law where the accident occurred, and it was well-known to the driver (who is 78).  He said after the accident that he came to a full stop, looked both ways, started across in a gear he knew would get him across, and "looked up and there was the train".

You can bet your bottom dollar very careful efforts will be made to find some way to assign UP some seemingly-nominal part of the responsibility.  Neither the driver nor the school district will likely have the money or the insurance to cover the damages here.  Any part they can't or won't would be UP's 'deep-pockets' liability when they cam't

[blue streak 1]

in this state a school bus driver is required to stop not closer than 15 feet from track, open door to listen, then close door and cross.  At crossings so marked stop short of the solid white line.  That is all crossing warnings protected or not protected.

[Euclid]

Here is a link to the news of the crash right after it happened:

https://www.athensreview.com/news/local_news/athens-police-release-crash-report-on-bus-train-collision/article_2562bfa6-2e49-11e9-9349-e7bf05061b05.html

 

It would take some thought to unravel what actually occurred based on these news reports.  Apparently the crossing shown in the video of the link in the third post here is not the crossing where the collision occurred.  I assume this because the link I post here says the train pushed the bus 1,000 feet after impact, and the a the link in the third post shows the train to have pushed the bus a distance of only about 100 feet beyond that crossing. 

Also the crossing where the collision occurred is reported to be a passive crossing with only crossbucks and yield signs, whereas the crossing in the link in the third post has flashing lights and possibly gates, although the gates are not clearly visible.

I understand that a state law also requires school busses to stop at passive crossings in addition to yielding according to the signs.  The report says that the schoolbus driver did stop at the crossing but then proceeded right into the path of the approaching train.  The train then pushed the schoolbus 1,000 feet which carried it through the subsequent crossing shown in the video of the link in the third post, and about 100 feet beyond that crossing. 

In the link I posted, it says that the train blew the horn for 30 seconds prior to impact, and it says that was twice as long as required.  One might interpret this as meaning that the engineer blew the horn continuously for 30 seconds prior to impact, but I suspect it means that the standard “two longs, a short, and a long” signal consumed 30 seconds.  I do not know if that is unusual or any sort of violation.  I would assume it is neither.

The report says that the schoolbus driver stopped at the crossing and then immediately drove across in front of the train.  To me, this suggests that the schoolbus driver had become habituated to stopping at the crossing, as the law required; and not encountering any train.  So he obeyed the law to stop, but slacked off on the vigilance to watch for trains.  He began to feel that stopping was the only requirement. 

[BaltACD]

rdamon

https://www.kltv.com/2020/08/11/judge-oks-immunity-railroad-employees-involved-fatal-athens-bus-crash-case/

 "The fact immunity was offered in the first place was only to facilitate the proceedings in this case and the defense request for depositions. It in no way suggests that either the conductor or engineer were in any way responsible for the collision that took the life of Christopher Bonilla and severely injured Joselyne Torres, as I believe the facts will show that the only person responsible for that is the defendant, Mr. Stevens."

Considering how capricious 'criminal prosecutions' can be in today's litigious society I don't fault the UP employees requesting immunity for their testimony as any 'defense' attorney will try his best to make the UP employees the one's criminally responsible.

I would also presume that UP would also have been ordered to present the forward facing video from the engine that was involved in the incident.

[tree68]

Local news story:  https://www.kltv.com/2020/08/11/judge-oks-immunity-railroad-employees-involved-fatal-athens-bus-crash-case/

Perhaps this is related to the discussion we've had here - to dump the train or not.  I would opine that the DA doesn't want his prosecution of the bus driver side tracked by that "coulda woulda shoulda" discussion.  I could also be wrong.  

 

[rdamon]

https://www.kltv.com/2020/08/11/judge-oks-immunity-railroad-employees-involved-fatal-athens-bus-crash-case/

 "The fact immunity was offered in the first place was only to facilitate the proceedings in this case and the defense request for depositions. It in no way suggests that either the conductor or engineer were in any way responsible for the collision that took the life of Christopher Bonilla and severely injured Joselyne Torres, as I believe the facts will show that the only person responsible for that is the defendant, Mr. Stevens."

[BaltACD]

More facts of the story are needed!

[NP Eddie]

ALL:

The county attorney has granted immunity to the train and engine crew in the school bus incident in Henderson, TX. I don't understand why that happened? The NP Conductors and Engineers schedules allow pay for attend inquests and hearings.

Ed Burns