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Tired long-distance bus drivers pose deadly threat

Fatigue is a hidden risk endangering bus passengers, the Consumers' Foundation warned yesterday.

The foundation followed six bus drivers on the Taipei to Kaohsiung route and found that three made the return trip the same day, pushing their work hour above the legally mandated 12 hour limit.

Bus safety has been in the news following last Sunday's deadly crash on Yangmingshan that killed eight people.

"With gas prices continuing to rise, more people are going to take a bus rather than drive," foundation chairman Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) said. "We need to make sure that a major source of bus accidents is not overlooked."

"Research in other countries has shown that fatigue is a factor in 30 to 50 percent of traffic accidents," said Su Jau-ming (蘇昭銘), an associate professor of Chung Hua University's transportation technology and product flow management department and a member of the foundation's traffic committee.

"My own research last year surveying 200 bus drivers showed that 78 percent of long-haul bus drivers have felt fatigued on the job, while 51 percent have nodded off at the wheel," he said.

The drivers who made the Taipei-Kaohsiung-Taipei trip in one day rested for just two-and a-half to three-and a-half hours, Su found.

However, such limited rest is unlikely to be refreshing, Su said, again citing his own research.

"Thirty percent of drivers said that they chatted [during their rest time], 24 percent watched television and 5 percent played videogames or played cards. Only 25 percent actually rested," he said.

Su said that the drivers also have to eat their meals, clean out their bus, refuel it and even take it to a car-wash during their break time.

The foundation said bus companies could be fined between NT$6,000 and NT$60,0000 for violating the work hour limits stipulated by the Labor Standard Law (勞動基準法).

"We conducted our survey on weekdays," Su said. "I can only imagine that the situation is worse on weekends and holidays."

The foundation called for the bus transport industry to change its wage structure from the "low base wage, high bonus" paradigm and ensure that bus drivers do not drive when they are tired.
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