Butte Silver Bow Transit Montana

[busfreak99]

Just received 5 new Gillig LF 29ft buses. Replacing 5 35ft 2001 Orion V's. http://mtstandard.com/news/local/bus-rollout-lt-governor-chief-executive-inspect-butte-s-new/article_02c941fc-80bd-11e3-bcca-0019bb2963f4.html

[MAX BRT]

Black and orange livery eh? Nice.

[roamer]

I'm thrilled to see that this agency ordered the non-BRT versions of the Gillig Advantage and also specified that the left mirror be top-mounted.

I'm an advocate of eliminating as much "blind area" on the driver's left field of vision as possible as it creates quite a hazard when making left turns. Many pedestrian deaths have occurred as a result of a left turning bus and the driver not being able to see the pedestrians because of their disappearing in the "blind area" created by thick windshield A-pillars and large left mirrors mounted at the driver's eye-level. As a former transit operator, I had several very close calls and came extremely close to having a tragic accident because of this issue.

Silver Bow should be commended in specifying non-BRT Gillig Advantage coaches with top-mounted mirrors as this virtually eliminates much of the blind area to the driver's left field of vision. The traditional Gillig Advatage has a wrap-around windshield and a relatively narrow A-pillar. Kudos to Gillig for that design. Yes, the BRT front end looks cool but it creates more areas that hamper a driver's vision ...with one sliver of glass even having to have it's own wiper!

(I notice that NFI has vastly improved their A-pillar design in the Xcelsiors so hopefully this will be a trend ...but they were successfully sued as a result of the tragic Portland Oregon accident of a few years ago. All we need now is some guidelines that would prevent transit agencies from mounting left mirrors at eye-level ...either top-mount them or mount them low enough in order to prevent blocking so much of the driver's outward visual field.)

[MAX BRT]

roamer, thanks for sharing. I knew nothing about this but now I do. I would love to see this in the Gillig thread and I hope other operators chime in!

[roamer]

Hi MAX BRT, yes, I'd welcome a discussion on this issue and obviously shouldn't be done here in this thread. I'd rather a new thread be started as it really is far wider in scope than just being limited to Gilling (or NFI) coaches but also includes the issue of the size and mounting location of the left mirror on any coach.

Thanks so much. As I say, it's been a thorn in my side long before I retired and every time I review what happened to the operator in Portland, all I can say is "there but for the grace of God go I" ...and were I in better health, I'd mount a campaign to force transit agencies to get rid of this horrible "thorn" that doesn't need to exist. No other pedestrians should be killed and no transit operators should suffer the consequences Ms Day and others have in the aftermath of accidents that don't have to happen because of the stubbornness of the managers at transit agencies.

I will start a new thread shortly. I appreciate the suggestion and hope it isn't out of the scope for this forum.

[MAX BRT]

I think starting a new thread for the left turn/mirror/A pillar discussion is a good idea!

"General Vehicle Discussion" might be the right place for it.

[roamer]

Thanks again, MAX BRT.

Done. I did get carried away a bit so we'll see if I held anybody's attention or interest.

The Deadly Blind "spot" on Transit Buses