# Why do school bus drivers open the door at railroad tracks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036 "2017-10-27T23:26:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/1 "2017-10-27T23:26:52Z")
Everyone knows that all school bus drivers everywhere (and other kinds of charter bus drivers too?) stop at all railroad tracks, and have always done so since the invention of school bus drivers. But I’ve noticed that when they do so, they also always open the door, and then close it before driving on. Why do they do that? Is this everywhere or just a California thing? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/2 "2017-10-27T23:32:20Z")
Listening for approaching trains. Some crossings have no controls(lights, gates) or they might malfunction. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/3 "2017-10-27T23:59:01Z")
Clear view. The doors have a large seam running down the center. Windows are relatively small considering the total opening. You open the door for the best view possible. Also windows steam up on Midwestern winter mornings. Source: my dad drove the school bus for the few years I was short. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/4 "2017-10-28T00:21:37Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > Clear view. The doors have a large seam running down the center. Windows are relatively small considering the total opening. You open the door for the best view possible. Also windows steam up on Midwestern winter mornings. Source: my dad drove the school bus for the few years I was short. Yes, they should be able to open the driver’s side window for a better look also. Seeing out the entry door side is more difficult. Listening per: **running coach** is a good idea too. We still have tons of track crossings without gates or signals. ---
**Author:** ![zuer-coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ba9def/32.png) [@zuer-coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuer-coli)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/5 "2017-10-28T00:30:05Z")
All, My Father also drove School Bus for many years as a sub, as I recall opening the doors at RR crossings was a requirement of the State of Ohio laws concerning School Buses. Better sight and hearing was the rational. Zuer-coli ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/6 "2017-10-28T00:35:39Z")
Everywhere there are buses and trains and road rules. In some places, trucks have to come to a full stop and listen too. I’ve never seen a truck driver shift across and open the passenger side door, but when I was a kid, trucks used to drive with the windows open anyway – dunno what they did when they got to a rail crossing in the rain. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/7 "2017-10-28T00:36:29Z")
Yep road a rural school bus for years. The other thing is habit. And it makes them more likely to come to a full stop, and check. You might notice that utility and other work trucks will leave an orange safety cone out behind the truck even when not working. Say just at lunch. It reminds/makes them to walk to the back of the truck and check for any obstacles. ---
**Author:** ![Toledo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/34f0e0/32.png) [@Toledo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toledo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/8 "2017-10-28T00:41:14Z")
Yup, it is the law in Ohio, occupied busses (meaning anybody on board other than the driver) and tankers hauling flammable liquids must stop, look and listen. Sometimes you will see a crossing with a sign “exempt”, which indicates an unused track at which busses etc are not required to stop. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/9 "2017-10-28T00:57:47Z")
My bus driver stopped in the middle of a major thoroughfare to look left and right down the tracks. No train has been on those tracks for 50 years. The tracks dead-ended 5 feet from the street in a car parking lot. There’s a god damned 20-foot tall tree growing through the sidewalk, between the rails, six feet to the left. Still stopped every damn day for 13 years. “It’s the law,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/10 "2017-10-28T01:13:05Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > My bus driver stopped in the middle of a major thoroughfare to look left and right down the tracks. No train has been on those tracks for 50 years. The tracks dead-ended 5 feet from the street in a car parking lot. There’s a god damned 20-foot tall tree growing through the sidewalk, between the rails, six feet to the left. Still stopped every damn day for 13 years. “It’s the law,” he said. Per **Toledo Jim’s** post, it was never marked “exempt”. The driver has no discretion. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/11 "2017-10-28T01:17:09Z")
OK, I was going to tell my story of the tracks ending 100 feet away from the crossing in both directions, but a tree growing up through the tracks beats that for sure. ---
**Author:** ![zuer-coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ba9def/32.png) [@zuer-coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuer-coli)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/12 "2017-10-28T03:14:59Z")
removed duplicate ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/13 "2017-10-28T23:08:30Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > My bus driver stopped in the middle of a major thoroughfare to look left and right down the tracks. No train has been on those tracks for 50 years. The tracks dead-ended 5 feet from the street in a car parking lot. There’s a god damned 20-foot tall tree growing through the sidewalk, between the rails, six feet to the left. Still stopped every damn day for 13 years. “It’s the law,” he said. Which sounds obnoxiously pedantic, but maybe the right answer should have been “if I don’t, and somebody reports it, I could get fired.” If I had been that driver, I probably would have stopped too. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/14 "2017-10-30T09:09:58Z")
Lemme guess. Somewhere, sometime, a school bus got hit by a train. A jury ruled that the driver’s view was impaired, which would not have been had the door been open. From then on, the school board’s legal affairs department required the drivers to open the doors. Other lawyers got into the act, and soon schools were doing it as a matter of policy, with lower insurance rates offered by underwriters to those in compliance. To avoid further litigation surrounding rear-end collisions, they started painting warnings on the backs of buses. Some state legislator discovered that there was no law requiring them to do so, and asked why, and called in enough markers to get a bill passed in his name. Then it spread to other states. From that day to this, there has never been a single event in which an accident was avoided by opening the doors, but that doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/15 "2017-10-30T12:25:37Z")
The reasoning is clear, yet I’ve had a couple of bus drivers stop ON the tracks and then open the doors. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/16 "2017-10-30T12:34:39Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > From that day to this, there has never been a single event in which an accident was avoided by opening the doors, but that doesn’t matter. How do you know an accident wasn’t avoided if there wasn’t an accident? I’ll tell you how, statistics. If you can show that on average a certain number of bus accidents occurred every million miles driven and that they average dropped significantly after you required them comply with the stop and look regulation then you can say that it is working. This argument against any regulation is just appalling, especially for a regulation that cost practically nothing and saves children’s lives. Stopping at railroad crossings and painting warning signs on the rear of a bus cost practically nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/17 "2017-10-30T12:41:53Z")
Just to note that this very law is the one portrayed in the “I’m Just a Bill” video. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/18 "2017-10-30T12:51:38Z")
I’m sure that, even before this policy/law, collisions between trains and school buses were already quite rare. Which makes the statistics problematic. That said, though, what’s the harm? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/19 "2017-10-30T13:07:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m sure that, even before this policy/law, collisions between trains and school buses were already quite rare. Which makes the statistics problematic. > > That said, though, what’s the harm? It only takes [one busload of children killed](http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/blogpost/sbfblog/647130/revisiting-an-infamous-school-bus-train-crash)to prompt government action. [And it wasn’t the first](https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/19th_Judicial_District/Court_House_History/20%20Children%20Killed%20as%20Passenger%20Train%20Hits%20School%20Bus%20East%20of%20Evans.pdf). ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036/20 "2017-10-30T14:00:30Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > It only takes [one busload of children killed](http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/blogpost/sbfblog/647130/revisiting-an-infamous-school-bus-train-crash)to prompt government action. [And it wasn’t the first](https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/19th_Judicial_District/Court_House_History/20%20Children%20Killed%20as%20Passenger%20Train%20Hits%20School%20Bus%20East%20of%20Evans.pdf). Buses have been required to stop for tracks for a long time. But it was a specific incident in 1938 that resulted in the requirement (in Utah, at least) to open the bus door for a look-see. [Bus crash in 1938 led to train laws](https://www.deseretnews.com/article/705338209/Bus-crash-in-1938-led-to-train-laws.html) > [@Deseret news](#): > > Farrold “Slim” Silcox, the 29-year-old driver of the school bus, stopped as required by law at the railroad crossing that then existed at 300 West and slightly north of 10600 South. > > The blizzard was blinding. “Visibility was zero. I can’t remember a storm worse than that one,” said Andrus, who was a fifth-grader at the time and living in nearby Draper. But since Silcox had crossed these tracks daily at this time for the past three years and never encountered The Flying Ute, he proceeded across. > > Traveling at 60 miles per hour, the train dragged the school bus almost half a mile before it could stop. > > Twenty-five school kids died, plus Slim Silcox. It remains the worst railroad crossing tragedy in U.S. history. > > After that, in addition to having to stop at all railroad crossings, the law required school bus drivers to open the door and their side window, and listen, before proceeding. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-school-bus-drivers-open-the-door-at-railroad-tracks/800036.md?page=2)