cerulean
08-20-2003, 01:36 PM
I'm furious that bus drivers in Israel have such unsafe conditions in which to work. There would be an outcry if factory workers were killed or injured in the numbers that they are. But yet they keep going, and not for a generous salary either.
Here's an article I was reading today about life for Israeli bus drivers:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/74/israel.html
Driving in the Valley of the Shadow of Death
It's the management problem from hell: How do you run a company whose customers and employees are being killed?
Lior Baratz has spiky blond streaks in his hair, silver rings on his fingers, and wraparound aviator sunglasses. All of which makes him a pretty typical 26-year-old Israeli, if not all that typical of his profession. Baratz is a driver for Egged, the sprawling Israeli bus company, and although he's been on the job only three years, he is an Egged veteran in the most graphic, indelible way.
In April 2002, Baratz was at the wheel of Egged bus number 23, his regular route through Jerusalem. He was waiting out a red light on a Friday afternoon on Jaffa Road, in front of the bustling Mahane Yehuda outdoor market. Facing him across the intersection was Egged bus number 32A, coming the other way.
As Baratz looked through his windshield, the number 32A bus exploded right in front of him. The blast was so powerful, it blew out all the windows of bus32A, and the big bus leaped up off the road. The boom of the explosion rolled over Baratz and his passengers. There was a moment or two of total silence. Then the screams started.
Before Baratz could react, his passengers crowded to the front, yelling at him to open the door. They tumbled out, and he went with them, racing across the street to see what he could do.
But by the time Baratz got to the bus, Israeli emergency personnel were already there, taking control of the scene, attending to the injured and dead. They took Baratz aside, then sent him to be checked at the hospital, where he talked to a counselor before being sent home. The bombing killed 6 and injured 104, including the driver.
Egged offers drivers involved in bus bombings a few days off, but it doesn't force them to stay home. And Sunday morning, less than 48 hours after he watched a bus just like his blow up before his eyes, Baratz was back behind the wheel of the #23, running his regular route, right through the intersection where the bombing took place. "After a bombing, we act as if nothing happened," says Baratz. "Our mentality is that we don't like to look inside ourselves and think about it. We're not like that." . . .
The article goes on to say that not a single bus driver has quit because of the attacks. Some routes are more dangerous than others but Egged has not cancelled any routes.
Here's an article I was reading today about life for Israeli bus drivers:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/74/israel.html
Driving in the Valley of the Shadow of Death
It's the management problem from hell: How do you run a company whose customers and employees are being killed?
Lior Baratz has spiky blond streaks in his hair, silver rings on his fingers, and wraparound aviator sunglasses. All of which makes him a pretty typical 26-year-old Israeli, if not all that typical of his profession. Baratz is a driver for Egged, the sprawling Israeli bus company, and although he's been on the job only three years, he is an Egged veteran in the most graphic, indelible way.
In April 2002, Baratz was at the wheel of Egged bus number 23, his regular route through Jerusalem. He was waiting out a red light on a Friday afternoon on Jaffa Road, in front of the bustling Mahane Yehuda outdoor market. Facing him across the intersection was Egged bus number 32A, coming the other way.
As Baratz looked through his windshield, the number 32A bus exploded right in front of him. The blast was so powerful, it blew out all the windows of bus32A, and the big bus leaped up off the road. The boom of the explosion rolled over Baratz and his passengers. There was a moment or two of total silence. Then the screams started.
Before Baratz could react, his passengers crowded to the front, yelling at him to open the door. They tumbled out, and he went with them, racing across the street to see what he could do.
But by the time Baratz got to the bus, Israeli emergency personnel were already there, taking control of the scene, attending to the injured and dead. They took Baratz aside, then sent him to be checked at the hospital, where he talked to a counselor before being sent home. The bombing killed 6 and injured 104, including the driver.
Egged offers drivers involved in bus bombings a few days off, but it doesn't force them to stay home. And Sunday morning, less than 48 hours after he watched a bus just like his blow up before his eyes, Baratz was back behind the wheel of the #23, running his regular route, right through the intersection where the bombing took place. "After a bombing, we act as if nothing happened," says Baratz. "Our mentality is that we don't like to look inside ourselves and think about it. We're not like that." . . .
The article goes on to say that not a single bus driver has quit because of the attacks. Some routes are more dangerous than others but Egged has not cancelled any routes.