TriMet chief Neil McFarlane handed down new safety rules today in response to the tragic crash that killed two young women downtown this spring.
The new policies establish a new “Safety and Service Excellence Task Force” made up of two bus and rail operators, bike and pedestrian advocates, a Portland Police representative and several urban planning and transportation consultants. They also require drivers to turn off all personal electronic devices while operating a bus or MAX. Previously, drivers only had to have phones and other electronic gadgets out of sight, but not off. This would definitely include video cameras, seeing as last month a complaint and blog war prompted the agency to ban drivers from recording videos on the job.
TriMet is in the midst of a “top to bottom” safety review. A group of Florida consultants issued a list of safety suggestions for TriMet last month, including not turning left on red even when it’s legal and establish a committee to end committees.
First of all Sarah, I NEVER RECORDED any video while operating a bus, somebody filmed me!
I’d like to remind Mercury readers that the Trimet bus horror crash HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH CELL PHONES, VIDEO CAMERAS, ETC.
And its completely typical for a bunch of bureaucrats to create more bureaucracy in response to this whole tragic incident.
If there are 10,000,000 rules put on Trimet drivers there will still be accidents. It’s the gas combustion engine that is the culprit, it destroys lives, air, and environment.
When the gas runs out these tragic events will cease.
One further thing Sarah.
If this company was serious about stopping distracted driving then they would have signage posted clearly so that all passengers could see it:
DO NOT TALK TO THE DRIVER WHILE BUS IS IN MOTION.
That is our #1 source of distraction!