An alarming number of MTA bus drivers have been issued summonses for texting, eating, and reading behind the wheel this year.
Since January 2010, a total of 178 operators were caught pecking away at cellphones while carrying passengers around city streets, MTA data show.
Also, seven drivers were cited for eating while operating a bus, and another seven were reading while driving, the MTA said.
The MTA said the drivers were reprimanded, suspended or dismissed depending on their records.
“This is out of 10,000 bus operators,” said Charles Seaton, an MTA spokesman.
“The MTA views this as a very serious safety concern and we employ several methods of policing cellphone use behind the wheel.”
Those include sending out scores of MTA officials to watch drivers and following up on rider complaints, the agency said.
In the past, bus operators who are preoccupied while behind the wheel have seriously hurt or killed pedestrians.
Last November, a texting driver killed a 22-year-old F.I.T. student at Ninth Avenue and West 53rd Street. If the driver had not been texting, he would not have hit the young man, a state agency said.
The MTA figures were released as the US Department of Transportation held its second Districted Driving summit.
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(Source: NY Post)
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5 Responses
As much as this is important to know it is more important to watch and be on the lookout at what some of our community bus drivers are or are not doing.
This week i noted:
driver with preschoolers and no matron
driver racing down block and going through a red light
driver busy with cell phone
drinking such as coffee
using language and words we would be appalled to hear
not stopping diagonally and letting children off
dropping young children off even if no one was waiting
letting small children stand on top of seats with opened windows
riding with packed bus on short days when both preschoolers and grades are dismissed same time that there were children even had room on steps only
And mind you many parents are paying for this type of transportation
It is time that parents speak up or volunteer to keep watch on the buses to monitor saftey
Someone should ticket the cops that text while they drive too! I’ve seen policemen texting while driving one too many times and wondered whether I could issue a citizens summons. Of course I didn’t, but would have been justified.
heres a thread i started about distracted bus drivers in israel: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/egged-puts-passengers-convenience-before-their-safety
They should all be fired. How stupid do you have to be not torealize that these activities are dangerous?
Why aren’t they allowed to eat?