Metro rethinks reprimands for reading while driving.

Our local Metro bus service is “rethinking” how it disciplines its drivers who are caught  reading or texting while behind the wheel.

Right now, the driver gets a written warning on the first violation.  Now here’s the interesting part….they get up to three warnings and on the fourth violation they get fired if they are reading or texting while driving.  FOUR times – are you kidding me?  Who wrote these rules?

Driving a bus with many passengers and reading or texting is “distracted driving” at its finest.  Not only is the safety of the driver and other drivers on the road at risk, but how many bystanders are at risk as well?

The discussion right now within Metro is whether an automatic firing of a driver caught reading or texting is appropriate.   Ummm,….YES!  What is to be discussed?  Distracted driving while passengers entrust you with their safety is wrong.  OK, maybe one warning, then fired on the second one, if I’m being sympathetic.  Or maybe not fired on the first one, but a lifetime ban on driving a Metro vehicle ever again.   Either way, the current FOUR violations of distracted driving needs to go.