SF Muni bus driver busted for Texting while Driving...

[AsahinaKimi]

Muni Driver Busted Texting and Driving, Threatens to Never Pick Up That Rider Again

Talk about avoiding unnecessary conversation: a Muni driver on the 24-Divisadero line was caught red-handed texting behind the wheel while the bus was in motion. Shawn Higgins, a jewelry store owner in the Castro who rides the 24 to work daily, spotted the distracted driver tapping away at an iPhone in her lap as if she didn't have a busload of real live human beings riding in the back. Higgins told CBS5 that he moved to the seat across from the driver to get a shot of the action, but she quickly stopped - that's when he cleverly filmed her reflection in one of the door mirrors.

(Video at the link)

After Higgins confronted the driver to point out it is illegal to text while driving, the operator pulled the bus over at 15th and Castro, started recording him with her own telephone and then threatened: "I'll never pick you up again asshole." She then claimed she was ill, cleared all passengers from the bus and called central control for a new bus.

http://sfist.com/2011/04/07/muni_driver_busted_texting_and_driv.php

[marmar]

1. Why do these idiots keep doing this?

nt

[petronius]

2. "...has since returned to work"!?

After 9 years on the job, if she doesn't know better than this she has no business being a bus driver at all...

[Sonoman]

3. That's one advantage of being a Union member.

It was only a citation, after all.

There were no injuries or fatalities. Hell, if there had been she would've been hit - huge. Like maybe a whole week's suspension.

Sonoman

[JSK]

4. This is seriously dangerous

My best friend's husband was killed in the LA Metrolink accident where the driver was found to have been texting. He missed the red light and plowed head-on into a freight train.