Impatient People Should Never Become Bus Drivers
Posted: Wednesday, September 21, 2011
by Gerry Charbonneau
http://nibblednews.typepad.com
Ralph Cramden, a television character portrayed many years ago by Jackie Gleason, was a bus driver for the fictional Gotham Bus Company. He was a soft-hearted man who loved his wife, was frustrated by his lack of personal success and had a very short temper that many times landed him in hot water.
Although this portrayal was fictional there are many folks out there today who do drive a bus and also have short temper fuses waiting to be ignited by the proper stimulus. This potential emotional explosion could conceivably result in serious accidents , injury and death to their passengers.
According to many taffic safety studies a number of these drivers over time tend to flaunt the safe driving rules of the road, cause more accidents and create more unsafe incidents than other less stressed drivers. Their stringent passenger deadlines when combined with the on-the-job expectations of their employers transform them into aggressive road raged ogres.
School bus drivers, public transportation drivers and special needs drivers for the handicapped over time eventually succumb to the urge to rule the road and dominate the flow of traffic. After all they are the larger vehicle on the road. Their passenger's safety and well being never enters into their equation for success.
The size of their vehicles combined with the number of passengers they carry at any one time helps them foster the belief that they are the supreme masters of the road . All other vehicles in the vicinity must submit to their dominance. To their way of thinking red lights are merely a deterrent to them completing their route successfully and on time.
Over the past few weeks I have seen school buses run red lights, drive faster than the posted speed limit in school zones and at times strand youngsters who were a few seconds late for their scheduled pick up time.
The parents were outraged but the drivers offered them the explanation that they had their schedule to meet. School administrators and union officials backed the drivers' reasons for the stranding of the young students. This smugness did not sit well with the parents who were forced to drive their children to school.
I was recently driving behind a small sized, specially designed vehicle for people confined to wheel chairs. The driver of the vehicle easily darted back and forth through traffic, ran a few red lights and took many of the turns at a rate of speed that shuffled his passengers about like eggs in an opened container. Many of the passengers were clinging to the hand rails inside the vehicle for safety and stability.
I realize that not all public transportation drivers fit the emotional description I have offered. Many of them are actually responsible, courteous men and women who take their jobs seriously and place their commitment to safe handling procedures at high levels. These folks ought to be commended.
There are however those drivers who put deadlines and schedules before safety. These folks receive more police citations for unsafe driving practices than normal. They want to please their boss and not tend to the safety of their passengers. They are the drivers that should be rooted out of the system and replaced by people who place passenger safety at the top of their list.
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