OCCASIONAL ALCOHOL AND DRUG TESTING FOR BUS DRIVERS SHOULD
BE PART OF THE JOB

As anybody who has ridden on a bus this winter knows, driving a bus in
the Lower Mainland is a tough and demanding job. You not only have to
deal with harsh weather, traffic congestion and the complex mechanical
operations of a large, heavy vehicle, you also have to juggle tight
schedules, sometimes rude customers and repeated requests for
information. In other words, this is not a job for those with a low
tolerance to stress.

But that is no excuse for drinking on the job, or being in any way
impaired at the wheel.

Bus drivers have the lives of their passengers and other road users
literally in their hands.

And bus riders are entitled to a safe journey on a clean vehicle
driven by sober drivers.

After all, those who go out for an evening's drinking are actively
encouraged by the authorities to rely on public transit to get
themselves home.

That is why we support a proposal by the Greater Vancouver Mothers
Against Drunk Drivers group for occasional alcohol and drug testing of
bus drivers -- provided, of course, it isn't done in an excessive or
heavy-handed way.

The suggestion by MADD follows two recent cases in which bus drivers
were issued 24-hour roadside suspensions. Both have been fired.

MADD spokesman Bob Rorison questioned earlier whether the two cases
weren't the tip of the iceberg. He told Province reporter Ian Austin
that drug and alcohol testing would restore the public's faith in bus
drivers: "Why should the public get on a bus when they don't know
whether the drivers are sober?"

But, at a news conference yesterday, Coast Mountain Bus Co. president
Denis Clements resisted the call for random drug testing. He said the
company already has programs in place to help employees with
substance-abuse problems.

And local bus drivers' union president Steve Sutherland, of the
Canadian Auto Workers, says the two disturbing cases that occurred in
the last three months were an anomaly.

But, anomaly or not, requiring bus drivers on occasion to blow into a
breathalyzer at the start of their shift shouldn't be unduly onerous.

It is certainly no more onerous than the other challenging
requirements of their important job.

What do you think?