Article: Brisbane bus drivers face risk of daily attacks

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail click here!

Brisbane bus drivers face risk of daily attacks

Brisbane bus drivers face risk of daily attacks

    Robyn Ironside
    From: The Courier-Mail
    August 02, 2011 12:00AM

BRISBANE bus drivers are being abused, robbed and spat on every day with 370 assaults recorded in the year to May.

Data obtained by The Courier-Mail under Right to Information laws, shows verbal assaults are an almost daily event while physical assaults and robberies are happening weekly.

Already some late-night buses have to be followed by security patrols to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers, but the Rail, Tram and Bus Union wants more to be done including the installation of safety screens and tougher penalties for offenders.

Bus division secretary Dave Matters said the attacks were "getting worse not better" with a driver recently struck with a softdrink bottle and a female passenger hospitalised after being hit with an object at Bracken Ridge.

"It's not just your parents who are driving buses these days, it's your grandparents," Mr Matters said.

"Think about someone coming up and giving your gran or your granddad a smack.

"That ain't right and that's what is going on out there."

He said the union had unsuccessfully tried to get government support for a "thank you driver" campaign in an effort to change attitudes.

"We're going to roll it out even if it's a smaller campaign," Mr Matters said.

"It's just about trying to change community attitudes so if someone starts abusing a bus driver their friends will let them know that's not on."

He said they were also looking at screens for bus drivers and wanted legislative changes to increase the penalties for those who assaulted the workers.

But Brisbane City Council's Public and Active Transport Committee Chair Julian Simmonds said a host of measures currently existed for driver safety.

"Since 2008 we've rolled out a trial of CCTV cameras on buses, DNA kits for drivers so if someone spits on them they can instantly collect it, upgraded radio communications and a duress button," Cr Simmonds said.

"Bus drivers have a tough job and we always ask passengers to be patient."

In January this year, the BCC was ordered to pay $100,000 compensation to a bus driver who was attacked when he had to use toilet facilities in a poorly lit, overgrown area of the Balmoral bus depot.

The council has appealed the District Court's ruling in favour of Richard Kenneth Miles, and is now awaiting the decision of the Court of Appeal.