[sustran] Safety on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Roads
Chris Bradshaw
hearth at ties.ottawa.on.ca
Thu Jun 28 12:43:04 JST 2012
Our BRT system in Ottawa is just passed its 30th birthday. Just a
couple months ago, two of the buses collided. Although the low-speed
collision (at turn within one of the stations) resulted in no deaths or
serious injuries, there was a furore of the slow reaction of the
authority to report the accident and inform users of the reasons for
near gridlock for hours. Obviously, the authority had not considered
such an occurrence possible.
Given that passengers do not have seat belts, that many do not have
seats, that speeds of buses are quite high (compared to regular-street
service) and that these roadways (called "transitway" locally) are
undivided, so that buses from opposing directions have no physical
barrier (such as a Jersey barrier) providing separation and a deflector
if one bus moved toward the centreline), this situation seems to be a
huge catastrophe just waiting to happen. The lack of restraints on
transit vehicles reflects the expectation that collisions would occur
primarily with much smaller vehicles, in which case the brunt of the
impact would be experienced by the other vehicle. But collisions
between two loades buses at high speeds (60-80 kms are common, and
patrons have reported higher speeds). Rail technology, which is often
much faster, is at least "guided" and operator error less consequential.
Does anyone know of any industry or state recognition of this risk -- or
of actual collisions between two or more transit vehicles -- that might
shed some light on just how dangerous this situation is and what
measures might be taken to reduce that danger?
Chris Bradshaw
Ottawa, Canada
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