TriMet installed bars of distracting, bright lights atop dozens of buses earlier this year as part of what it is calling a safety program designed to make the 40-foot-long buses more visible to drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

The transit agency quietly rolled out the “amber safety lights” in April, and so far, 30 buses are equipped with the light bar. It’s considering installing the devices on all of its buses.

“We are always looking for ways to make our system safer,” Tia York, an agency spokeswoman, said in an email. “As we test the lights, we’ll better understand if they can help improve visibility during times when pedestrians, cyclists or auto drivers might experience some type of distraction.”

As someone who recently drove past one of the 30 buses, this reporter can confirm the lights are immediately noticeable and distracting. That’s part of the point, TriMet officials said.

“The lights are designed to grab your attention, even when seen in the periphery,” York said.

The lights on the front of the buses sit on the roof and light up anytime the vehicle is moving forward. The lights bounce back and forth in rapid succession along a horizontal panel of eight rectangular-shaped lights. The resulting light show is akin to an Atari-era Pong paddle on too much caffeine. The rear-facing lights sit in the middle of the back of the bus and flash when the bus slows to a stop and when it remains stationary.

TriMet tracks anytime buses are involved in minor crashes or other collisions, such as when vehicles clip mirrors on parked vehicles. According to a recent presentation at a June board meeting, those types of collisions generally rise when the agency is training up a new crop of drivers and fall once those operators gain experience.

According to its website, in April the agency saw a rate of 2.17 collisions per 100,000 miles logged. For context, buses log roughly 73,300 miles on a typical weekday. In April, TriMet registered 49 collisions involving buses, 25 of which were non-injury crashes involving cars or trucks.

York said the agency was planning to “monitor feedback” about the lights during the next three to six months before deciding whether it wanted to install lights on its entire 700 vehicle fleet.

The lights are relatively cheap, York said, costing $488 to install on a vehicle. TriMet said it got the idea from Washington D.C.’s Metro bus line, which has similar lights on its 1,500-vehicle fleet. Metro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TriMet tweeted about the lights on Friday and, while It’s hard to judge based on Twitter responses, the lights were largely panned. Some readers compared it to “Knight Rider,” the 1980s-era David Hasselhoff crime show. The buses don’t talk, yet.

Have you noticed these new light bars on some of our buses?

Good!

They're a new safety feature we're testing out to help our buses be more visible to pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.



What do you think? pic.twitter.com/bFhpw72gx9 — TriMet (@trimet) July 12, 2019

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

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