It was safer than usual for bus drivers in B.C. last year, according to a recent report from Coast Mountain Bus Company.
There were 116 reported assaults in 2012 on bus drivers, which is down from 30 the previous year. It represents a 52 per cent drop from 2006, when there were 242 assaults.
New Westminster and Burnaby comprise 10 per cent of the assaults on operators from last year's numbers. Vancouver is the highest incident region, with 56 per cent of attacks happening there, according to Peter Arkell, Coast Mountain's assault and WorkSafe prevention specialist.
"It's nice to see a decline," Arkell said in a phone interview. "We had a low in 2010. It spiked in 2011, but now we have an even lower level in 2012."
The number of serious physical or violent assaults also declined from 2011 by five percentage points to 23 per cent of the total recorded last year.
"Assaults of any kind on transit operators pose a high risk to the operators and to the public on and off the bus, so we must continue those efforts," Arkell said. "One assault is too many."
Arkell explained the decrease is due in part to the pro-active efforts to improve safety for transit operators since 2006.
The bus company has been in the pro-cess of installing video cameras on buses, and all the new buses coming into service, and installed a new system that enables instant emergency communication with the Transit Communications centre, which can pinpoint bus locations instantly using GPS.
Arkell said the company, along with the bus driver's union CAW Local 111, have also been lobbying for more appropriate sentences to match the serious assaults on transit operators.
The company has been trying for a long time to get appropriate sentences for assaulting a bus driver to be considered as serious as assaulting a police officer, according to Arkell.
"There are a lot of lives at stake aboard the bus," he said. "It presents big risks to the drivers themselves and the public. I don't have to tell you the damage that can be done when a 40 ft. coach is out of control."
Representatives from both TransLink and the union attend court cases that involve one of their drivers being attacked on the job. Arkell said the presence often helps support the driver and encourages an appropriate sentencing.
"We want to send a message to the judicial system," he said. "We really want sentences to match the assault to our bus drivers."
Workplace workshops are offered by the bus company in an effort to inform and education operators to help keep them safe.
Calls put in to CAW Local 111 were not returned before press deadline. www.twitter.com/stefania_seccia
BY STEFANIA SECCIA REPORTER [email protected]
