sigh

I mentioned a fellow driver in a Tweet recently who had been fired for getting into a non-fatal accident with a bicycle. She had a very good record (one minor accident many years ago) until the recent accident. Apparently M*tro Tr*nsit’s latest policy is to simply fire a driver in a pedestrian accident- and bicycles are somehow considered pedestrians (?!?)- then rehire them. The driver in question is back, but she will never recover that lost month of pay. Also the driver, as part of the rehire agreement, is on a three-year last chance agreement, which basically means that for three years, she can be fired for nearly any infraction and can’t grieve it. That ought to help her drive calmly and safely.

As a result of this policy, a driver who recently got his 25-Year Safe Driver Award asked that it be thrown away, since he’s clearly a safe driver, but he could get fired if a bicycle runs into his bus and it’s determined that he could have done something to avoid it. ha!

I’m not sure why:
1) Bicycles are not considered vehicles. (The law says they are and we don’t get fired for a non-fatal car accident.)
2) A week’s suspension without pay is not enough punishment for a non-fatal accident.
3) Management thinks this is a good idea.

Rumor has it that the union and management have been going ‘round and ‘round about this…