PRINTER'S NO. 364
No. 334 Session of 1985
INTRODUCED BY J. L. WRIGHT, AFFLERBACH, KASUNIC, LASHINGER,
E. Z. TAYLOR, HERMAN, BOOK, PERZEL, GEIST, ARTY, PETRARCA,
MICOZZIE, DAWIDA, CIMINI, GREENWOOD, BOWSER, JOHNSON, TRELLO,
SIRIANNI, COHEN AND GRUPPO, FEBRUARY 13, 1985
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION, FEBRUARY 13, 1985
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
2 Statutes, requiring school buses to stop at all railroad
3 crossings.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Section 3342 of Title 75 of the Pennsylvania
7 Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
8 § 3342. Vehicles required to stop at railroad crossings.
9 (a) General rule.--Except as provided in subsection [(b)]
10 (c), the driver of any vehicle described in regulations issued
11 pursuant to subsection [(c)] (d), before crossing at grade any
12 track or tracks of a railroad, shall stop the vehicle within 50
13 feet but not less than 15 feet from the nearest rail of the
14 railroad and while so stopped shall listen and look in both
15 directions along the track for any approaching train, and for
16 signals indicating the approach of a train, and shall not
17 proceed until it can be done safely. After stopping and upon
1 proceeding when it is safe to do so the driver of the vehicle
2 shall cross only in such gear of the vehicle that there will be
3 no necessity for manually changing gears while traversing the
4 crossing and the driver shall not manually shift gears while
5 crossing the track or tracks.
6 (b) School buses.--Notwithstanding subsection (c), the
7 drivers of school buses shall stop before crossing any railroad
8 grade crossing or track or tracks of a railroad.
9 [(b)] (c) Exceptions.--[This section] Subsection (a) does
10 not apply at any of the following:
11 (1) Any railroad grade crossing at which traffic is
12 controlled by a police officer or flagman.
13 (2) Any railroad grade crossing at which traffic is
14 regulated by a traffic-control signal.
15 (3) Any railroad grade crossing protected by crossing
16 gates or an alternately flashing light signal intended to
17 give warning of the approach of a railroad train.
18 (4) Any railroad grade crossing at which an official
19 traffic-control device gives notice that the stopping
20 requirement imposed by this section does not apply.
21 [(c)] (d) Regulations defining vehicles subject to
22 section.--The department shall adopt such regulations as may be
23 necessary describing the vehicles which must comply with the
24 stopping requirements of this section. In formulating the
25 regulations, the department shall give consideration to the
26 hazardous nature of any substance carried by the vehicle as
27 determined by the Hazardous Substances Transportation Board and
28 to the number of passengers carried by the vehicle in
29 determining whether the vehicle shall be required to stop. These
30 regulations shall be developed in conjunction with the
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1 Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the Urban Mass
2 Transportation Authority and shall correlate with and so far as
3 possible conform to the current regulations of the United States
4 Department of Transportation.
5 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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