Company Offers Training Video to Teach Transit Employees the Dangers of Distracted Driving

Bus drivers have a responsibility to get their passengers to and from their destinations safely. But with the advent of cell phones, Blackberry's and other gizmos, some bus drivers have become distracted while operating their mass transit vehicle. This distraction puts passenger's lives in danger and increases the likelihood of a major bus crash.

In recent years, mass transit companies have worked to teach their drivers how distracted driving can have deadly consequences, according to a story in Mass Transit Magazine.

Here's a video illustrating what can happen when a bus driver engaes in texting while driving...


The story details Metro Transit in Minnesota and efforts to teach their bus drivers better safety practices. The company spent $13,000 to revamp an old training video to include the risks associated with using technology while driving.

Aurora Pictures, the production company that updated the video, also produced a generic training guide and it is being sold to other mass transit companies. Metro Transit officials claim the training video helped decrease the number of mass transit accidents and customer complaints.

The article stresses the importance of companies holding their drivers accountable for their actions. In Virginia and North Carolina, school bus drivers are restricted from using their cellular phones while driving.

My colleagues and I have written about the dangers of bus drivers talking on the phone or other forms of distracted driving. We've also documented the efforts to ban texting while driving in Virginia (VA).

SCF