Article: Queensland's rogue bus drivers rack up speeding fines

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Queensland's rogue bus drivers rack up speeding fines

Queensland's rogue bus drivers rack up speeding fines

    by: Robyn Ironside
    From: The Courier-Mail
    March 13, 2012 12:00AM

ROGUE bus drivers racked up 650 speeding fines in the past two years, including 286 in school zones.

Information obtained from Transport and Main Roads under Right to Information laws shows speeding was the most common traffic offence committed by Queensland bus drivers.

Most of the speeds recorded were less than 20km/h over the speed limit, with only four caught doing in excess of 30km/h over the limit.

Another 185 drivers were caught ignoring red lights, 33 were booked for talking on their mobile phones at the wheel and 19 for tailgating.

One driver was fined for drinking alcohol while on the road and another was nabbed for driving with the door open.

Although the number of offences committed totalled 1037, David Matters, of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, said the statistics should not be cause for concern.

"Some of our drivers get very worried about the timetable and may go over the limit trying to meet the schedule," Mr Matters said.

"I think there is a very high calibre of drivers in this city and we keep trying to improve.

"Tickets are virtually a day's wages and I don't think a lot of our members want to contribute to government revenue."

The RTI documents also showed almost 1300 bus drivers had their authority to drive suspended or cancelled in the 24 months to the end of November.

Most had "failed the standard" while 70 were suspended for failed traffic histories and 101 were at the "discretion of the chief executive officer". Mr Matters said the standards required by Queensland law to qualify for a Driver's Authority were "patently unfair".

"The people who pass these laws are not subjected to the same level of scrutiny as bus drivers," he said.

"If politicians had to have a DA, I think we'd lose a lot of them."

He said something like a public urination offence could cost a bus driver his DA or an offence committed as a juvenile.

Acting Translink CEO Matt Longland said most of the 5000 bus drivers working for Translink were "highly skilled".

"However where infringements or a risk to safety do occur, we expect appropriate penalties to apply," Mr Long-land said.

There were about 120 million bus trips taken on Translink services each year, he said.