There must be a better way to protect people at bus stops

Sunday, April 12, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Our shoulders slump in despair when we hear the news: A motorist has driven his car onto a sidewalk where people were waiting for a bus. His car slams into a 58-year-old woman and her 6-year-old granddaughter, killing them both. Others are injured.

The March 30 tragedy is the most recent in a 13-year string of similar crashes that have killed or seriously injured 30 people at valley bus stops. This one occurred along one of the valley’s busiest transit routes, the Sahara Express.

Several years ago, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada began moving bus benches and shelters farther from the street, driven by studies showing 80 percent of all roadway crashes nationwide are contained to within four feet of the road.

RTC officials suggest little more can be done to protect the lives of people who need a bus to get to work or go shopping. We’re not so sure.

Another bus stop tragedy could happen anytime, at any stop. There’s only one factor in common among these frightening events: the motorist was medically impaired or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The RTC operates about 3,600 bus stops, half of which don’t have shelters or benches. Among the other 1,800, by June 2016, the RTC will have pushed 900 at least four feet away from curbs. That will leave another 900 to move, but sidewalks are only so wide and the RTC needs the right-of-way from property owners before it can encroach on private property. Some owners won’t allow it; others don’t respond to the RTC’s inquiries. Besides, some bus riders won’t use a bench or shelter, preferring to stand near the curb — where they are most vulnerable.

The mismatch between vehicles and pedestrians gets in the craw of Michael King, an expert on street design. He worries that while the auto industry and government have focused heavily on protecting passengers of motor vehicles, other people who use streets, including people at bus stops, remain virtually unprotected.

“People dying while sitting at a bus stop? That may be the responsibility of a transit agency, but it’s a public health problem,” said King, who works for Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates, a New York City firm with government and private clients worldwide. “We’ve developed a very mature industry in protecting drivers and occupants of vehicles. People can drink, drive and fall asleep at the wheel and still survive because of all the air bags and other protection. But we have a very immature industry in how to protect people waiting for the bus.”

He and others who have studied the issue offer these suggestions:

■ Install bollards, the stump-like concrete pillars frequently seen as “traffic calmers” at intersections with heavy foot traffic and used to protect the perimeter of government buildings, between benches and the curb. (The RTC says there’s not enough space on Las Vegas’ narrow sidewalks to accommodate them and that if a speeding vehicle were to collide with one, there would be so much flying debris, it would cause even more injuries. King says bollards can be shaped to deflect an oncoming car back onto the road.)

■ Place “impact attenuators,” such as the sand-filled plastic barrels that protect highway workers, in front of bus shelters, and turn them into colorful planters. (Those also could take up too much space.)

■ Erect curbside guardrails (although they could interfere with passengers exiting or entering a bus).

■ Paint “Stand back!” warning signs in bright red on the sidewalk, similar to a subway or train station, to persuade pedestrians to step back from passing traffic.

■ Perhaps the most fundamental answer: We pay for more traffic cops and nail these law-breaking motorists before they kill.

The RTC’s bus shelter and bench advisory committee meets April 16. We hope members will give this issue a fresh look and brainstorm imaginative, effective ways to help protect people who should feel safe on our sidewalks.

And to people standing at the bus stop, we suggest you stay ever-alert and keep an eye on the traffic heading your way.