On my way to class Tuesday night on the 43 outbound, my Muni driver inexplicably hopped off the bus at the Laguna Honda stop. At first I thought the bus had a mechanical problem, but the driver was acting a bit erratically — stepping on and off the fully powered bus while talking on his cellphone. Each time he stepped back on, we riders cocked our heads expectantly his way, hoping for some sort of announcement about why a perfectly functional bus wasn’t approaching our destination.
After about 13 minutes of idling (I was astutely watching the scrolling clock tick away on the digital placard), the driver reclaimed his seat at the wheel and resumed our route.
I found it very odd that: (1) the driver made no announcement about the nature of the delay, and (2) the riders (including me) made no attempt at protesting or asking what had happened. Mad at myself for not being more vocal, I decided to break my reticence just before my stop. I lumbered up to the driver and asked,
“What happened at Laguna Honda?”
“I got an emergency call.”
“Is everything OK?”
“Nope.”
Admonished for my previous frustration, I told him I was sorry and I hoped for the best. Although I empathized with the driver and his misfortune, I also wondered what Muni’s policy is on drivers taking emergency phone calls. The June 14, 2008, accident involving the T-Third train ramming into the N-Judah might have been caused by the driver using her cellphone. My operator wasn’t driving while using his cell phone, but upsetting news can involuntarily retard operating skills and put passengers in danger.
Recently, California and five other states enacted cellphone laws to abolish drivers from using handheld devices. What’s the policy for bus and public transit drivers?
According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, all school bus drivers are banned from cellphone use when passengers are present. That means while driving or not driving. Are Muni drivers enforced to follow the same rules as school bus drivers? I couldn’t find the answer on the SFMTA site, but the answer seems implied in my opinion.
Driving or not driving, emergency or not, I don’t think Muni operators should be allowed to use cellphones. What do you think?
Hm. I totally agree that cellphone use by MUNI drivers, WHILE DRIVING, should not be allowed. I think that is already covered by existing law (though I am unsure if that law excluded bus drivers, though that would be odd if it did).
However, I don’t think it would be fair to completely disallow cellphone use by MUNI drivers completely. That’s like someone telling you that you cannot use a cellphone during your work hours, at all. And emergencies do happen.
MUNI drivers, as annoying and rude as many of them are, are still human and still need to stay in contact with people.
Just my $0.02
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i originally felt the same way as you, Michael, but consider how you would react if a bad emergency call came in while you had a busload of people to cart around. while everyone responds differently to bad news, research has found that traumatic events cause impairments in cognition and senses, deeming it unsafe to drive.
of course drivers are people too; i’m just questioning the public-safety aspect in this.
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Maybe this is a question for Ford, True, et al., but does Muni have a policy in place for when there is an emergency is a driver’s life? One that occurs while they’re in the middle of a route? Seems like a good idear, if not.
I agree with Michael that the drivers shouldn’t be barred from having the phones on them; only from using them while operating. And then, use should be rare, and Muni should have a contingency plan to take care of that driver’s passengers.
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this is definitely an issue that Muni should – if it hasn’t already – address. for real emergencies, Muni should be able to communicate with the driver via radio and have some sort of contingency plan that jeff mentioned.
i’m still against drivers carrying cell phones on duty. i don’t think a Muni operator would contact HQ about a personal problem; he/she would just keep on driving, which is exactly what happened in my situation.
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To address the accident with the T Third and N Judah trains, the operator was found to be NOT using his cell phone. Records show that he was not on his cell phone during the accident. Just wanted to clear that up.
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Come on – he didn’t have an emergency call. How did he know to answer? It had an emergency ring? He wanted to talk to somebody and he knows he can get away with stopping the bus for 15 minutes to do it.
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If there’s a real emergency, the caller can call muni central dispatch and have the driver notified by them. People got by without cell phones up until about 10 years ago. There’s really no need for muni drivers to have them turned on while on their routes.
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Agreed. I doubt there is any emergency critical enough that they absolutely need to be contacted in the middle of their shift and not, perhaps, on a break or such. I worked a call center job in the past and I couldn’t just stop in the middle of a call or such because I had an emergency.
This is part of what makes a shitty job shitty.
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