SINGAPORE: A child suddenly dashing across the road, cyclists cutting into their path and senior citizens jaywalking – these are just some hazards that bus drivers may face when on the road.
But before they face these hazards on the job, some are already exposed to them in the comfort of a classroom.
Flashed on the screen was a real video of a vehicle’s dash cam footage, showing a toddler suddenly dashing in front of the vehicle as it travels along a road at night. The vehicle brakes in time, and narrowly avoids hitting the child, who is pursued by a caretaker.
“You can’t control the kid, they don’t know what’s right and wrong, or (what is) danger,” said Mr Gabriel Seah, a hazard awareness training and test trainer for transport operator SBS Transit to a room full of bus drivers.
“But what you can control is your alertness, your focus, and the correct action to take.”
Another scenario is flashed on the screen of an old man who is crossing the road and gets struck by a vehicle.
Naturally, there were some groans among the bus drivers.
“You cannot blame the ah pek (elderly man), he has his own reasons to do what he does … two parties create an unsafe act that results in this accident,” he said. “If the driver had scanned the surroundings, he would have noticed someone passing.”
Another video was shown which involved two cars that did not want to give way with one another, resulting in a sideswipe accident.
He reiterated: “A bit of patience on the road makes a big difference. Don’t worry about that one to two seconds … it’s better to be safe than to invite this kind of unnecessary problem.”
The lesson is part of a one-day Bus Captain Drive Safe refresher programme launched in August 2022 that aims to reinforce the importance of safe driving among bus drivers.
Held at the Singapore Bus Academy at the Devan Nair Institute For Employment And Employability, over 4,000 bus captains, which includes about 40 per cent of active bus drivers, have been through the course, which also includes “scenario based testing” on bus simulators.
