Tour Busses & Supply Trucks Take Note
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-- The rangers at Yellowstone National Park will start their commercial vehicle inspections in the near future. The inspections will be unannounced and focus on commercial busses to "assure public and park personnel safety."
-- According to the official press release:
"Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper/Inspectors, Montana Department of Highways, and U.S. Department of Transportation Inspectors will assist park rangers with the full level inspections at random locations throughout the park."
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-- Safety inspections have, in the past, been an occasional & infrequent occurrence. This is the eighth year in the interagency program and it has reduced the number of vehicles removed from the road for safety violations.
-- The inspections evaluate both the vehicle and the driver to insure full compliance with the operational and safety standards of the federal regulations governing the use of commercial vehicles in the park.
-- The program has always ignored the commercial vehicles operated by Yellowstone park concessionaires. This circumstance means that the safest tour busses are probably those that are operated in Yellowstone by firms from outside of the park
-- We urge the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of Transportation to implement this program in the winter months. This would remove the unsafe, 50 - 70 year-old snowcoachs, with poor brakes and no seat belts, and inadequate headlights from the winter roads, and further prevent threats to public safety.
