Passenger · On the Road
Approaching a railroad-highway grade crossing in a bus, what does passenger-vehicle guidance add to looking and listening for a train in both directions?
Explanation
The bus-specific addition is the forward door: open it whenever that makes an oncoming train easier to see or hear. A closed bus is an enclosed, noise-insulated box with a long hood and large pillars, so the driver's seat is one of the worst places in traffic from which to hear a horn or see down a track, and opening the door is the cheapest way to remove part of that handicap at the moment it matters. 49 CFR 383.117(a)(4) names proper procedures at railroad-highway grade crossings as a required knowledge area, but neither it nor 49 CFR 392.10, which sets the stop itself for a bus transporting passengers, states anything about the door, so this technique is attributed to the manual. The wrong options all introduce a new hazard or a new delay, whether by sending a passenger onto the roadway and across tracks, sounding the horn continuously in place of actually listening, or shutting down an engine the driver is about to need to clear the crossing.
Source: 49 CFR 383.117(a)(4)
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