I read in todays paper about a transit driver talking on his cell phone while driving and a transit rider taking a picture of the driver and she made the complaint a week ago and MT hasnt called her back, well that is because they let their drivers do whatever. Last year I phoned HRP on both of the twins that drive the bus when they were yaking on their cell phones while driving the bus at different times. I know both of the twins and cant stand either one.I avoid their buses when possible. The both of them never shut the fuck up, are always late and STILL talk on their cell phones while driving. I would love to shove the phones right down their fucking throat!!!
—shut up!!!
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2009.
Hey..gotta love belonging to a UNION. Fucking have to near shoot someone before you get fired
I haven’t read this article yet, but I totally agree with you OP. You can get Bluetooth earpieces for about $30 now, and wired ones for even less. There’s no excuse. And when you’ve got 50 people in your vehicle with their lives in your hands, it’s even more irresponsible.
Bluetooth is no better. The problem just isn’t how occupied your hands are with the conversation, it’s how occupied your brain is. Cell phones are distractions and should be avoided, especially when you are driving a very large piece of steel with lots of people on board.
Agreed Miles. Besides, I’ve never had a job that paid me to talk to my buddy’s all day. In fact, I’ve reprimanded employees for carrying on personal business (of all kinds) while at work
You’re right Miles and Kay, but at least if they were using Bluetooth they’d be obeying the law.
Miles- sorry but I have to disagree. I have been in sales for 20 plus years and much of my day is spent on a cell phone. Only the last two years have involved using a hands free device. While I totally support hands free devices, I totally disagree that talking on one while driving is a dangerous distraction. It is really no differenat than speaking with the person in the seat next to me. In fact I would argue that it is safer on the cell phone because you are not constantly looking over at the person when you speak. I mean really. What will we outlaw next? You see people driving a car while eating, smoking and sipping on a coffee. These are distractions. Will we do away with those as well? I am all for hands free cell phone use, not texting or dialing while driving etc…but I think it is just plain silly to say that talking on a hands free cell phone while driving is any bigger distraction than what I mentioned above.
I think the person that took the pictures should start uploading them for everyone to see, or sending them to the newspaper. Maybe the complaints wont get ignored!!
First, I’m not saying banning cell phones should be a law. Not using them while driving should be common sense.
Second, with respect Bobby, there are studies that show that cell phone conversations slow reaction times and increase the risk of an accident. Also, hands free sets can sometimes be more of a distraction because you don’t have the clumsy handset getting in the way to remind you that you are driving. As well, talking to another person in a vehicle has also been shown to be less distracting since the other person is also watching the road (at least occasionally) and can alert you to dangers or shut up when your attention is needed driving. The person on the other end of the phone often has no clue you are in a car.
Finally, all the other things you mentioned are just as much if not more of a distraction, and you shouldn’t do them. Again, you don’t need a law, it’s just common sense.
It’s not that yakking on a cell phone spells certain doom, it just increases your risk of an accident.
It should be noted that while driving while smoking, drinking coffee, putting on makeup etc are not illegal specifically like using a cell phone is, you CAN be charged for ‘driving without due care or attention’ for any of those things if they result in unsafe driving.
I wonder if HPD will charge the driver.
Why would the drivers change? MT will do nothing to ‘encourage’ them to do so. Just look at the no-idling “policy” that MT supposedly has.
buses are friggin’ idling just as much as ever. I walk past a whole line of them by the skate park ever afternoon. The drivers dont give a shit. Half the time they are sitting on the soccer field bleacher talking with other drivers or smoking cigs whil the bus idles away.
Maybe some brave wingnut should jump in one of those idling buses and drive away with it. Maybe ghost ride it into the harbour (cant pollute that bastard anymore than it already is…). THAT would certainly ‘raise some awareness’ for the idling issue.
Sorry, that was way off topic but a legit beef with MT and bus drivers noetheless….
I think with cell phones and other such distractions, people need to be aware and smart enough to admit to their limitations while driving.
I know that I distract easily so when I drive, my phones off or on mute, radios off or down etc. I would never be stupid enough to try to talk on a phone or text. Not until I have more driving experience at least.
take that matter up with the rcmp, if its “illegal” and “dangerous” for me to gab on a cell while behind the wheel, it must be that much more dangerous and illegal for a transit driver to do it with a bus load of the public on board.
Bus drivers complain about other drivers on their cell phones, I know. I watched a bus driver honk to get a woman chatting on her cell to move out of the bus lane, and when the woman didn’t respond, the bus driver simply proceeded into the lane, scrapping the whole side of the jeep and ripping off its mirror. As she (the bus driver) passed her insurance info to the woman, she said, Next time, you’ll hang up the phone and move.
I know of someone who had a family member hit in a cross walk because someone looked down to open a piece of candy while they were driving.
i know Alicia, the one who took the pics, and she has gone to the papers, and you should see the flack she has gotten for taking the pics, saying she is invading the privacy of the bus driver and she should get a life. She has been blown off by metro transit and is now basically become the bad guy for taking pics with her cell phone. she has had calls and people actually threatne her becuase of it
HKM – the bus driver can be charged with willful destruction of property and even assault with a weapon (the bus). Granted, the woman on the phone was in a “bus lane” but that doesn’t justify ramming another person’s car while they’re in it, cell phone call or not.
Would LOVE to have an MT driver do that shit to me. They’d get my foot in their ass in exchange for their insurance information.
Didn’t condone it, NGF, merely witnessed it 🙂
Ahh, I get you now. 🙂 Were there fireworks between the drivers?
The driver was cool as a cucumber, the woman in the jeep, on the hand, cursed the driver out, but not to her face, to the person she was talking to on the phone–she still hadn’t hung up.
That driver should be fired. That’s much worse than hitting a fake seal.
I haven’t traveled on the bus for some time–it may be that she was. There certainly were a lot witnesses, although only my friend and me were next to the jeep at the time. You could see it coming, but when we pointed to warn the driver of the jeep, she didn’t notice. I suspect the driver got in trouble for the accident, although I doubt (going by the responses here) she actually got fired.
Somehow this doesn’t bother me as much as it might since bus drivers have giant phones attached to their buses which have been there for decades.
A few months ago I was on my bike. I DO NOT ride on sidewalks and it was pretty late in the day with not much traffic. I was tired and on my way home. I decided to zip up Trollope the wrong direction – there were no cars coming. I consider the odd traffic violation a “privledge” of being an urban cyclist… Like coasting through a stop sign on a side street. Not a big deal.
Well, a MT bus came through the intersection and towards me. I hugged the curb and as you know Trollope is a very wide one way street (street parking on both sides).
The douche bag bus driver intentionally tried to run me off the road by looking me in the eye, and swerving the bus directly at me while speeding up! I was forced to make an evasive turn into the grass and almost hit a parked car!
And he just burned off down the road. No doubt feeling quite smug at having intimidated a cyclist who was knowingly sneaking up a very wide and un-busy one way street.
Is that not antisocial behaviour? Some of these guys should be locked up! Who does that?!?!
Since ya’ll are thinking what I would say about this (or not, I dunno), here’s my 2 cents.
First off, the driver was breaking provincial laws and HRP/RCMP can pull us over as well if we’re caught. Bus drivers get pulled over and fined like everyone else, just trust me on this one. It is also against MT policy and can lead to job action. MT, like most employers, are not allowed to discuss specific punishment of its employees with the public. People have in the past been suspended over this issue. In the notices reminding us of this policy, it is stated that the public is very sensitive to this and may choose to go to the media instead of the call centre. In short, we were warned ahead of time that this may happen. One driver chose to ignore this warning and now the article was the result. We drivers cannot say we didn’t see this coming.
I don’t like it when car drivers do it, so I don’t do it either (though I do carry my phone to work for layover texting). I wish more drivers agreed with me in action.
PDG: You always offer such great insight on these types of issues. Welcome back dude!