Not Just an Ache: Examining the Rate of Musculoskeletal Pain in City Bus Drivers

This paper examines the rates of musculoskeletal discomfort in a sample of 957 city bus drivers at King County Metro, a public transportation agency serving the greater Seattle area. It also examines how often such pain prevented drivers from doing their normal work, needed treatment from a medical professional, or incited one or more worker’s compensation claims. To assess the level of musculoskeletal discomfort in city bus drivers, an anonymous survey was distributed to drivers at King County Metro, a public transportation agency serving the greater Seattle area. This survey consisted of a Nordic Questionnaire asking drivers whether or not they experienced pain in certain areas of the body in the past twelve months, along with a small section asking for basic information such as age, hours per week worked, and gender. The results of the survey demonstrate that bus drivers experience very high rates of musculoskeletal pain, with 85% of respondents indicating pain in at least one area of the body. Comparisons to CDC data show higher rates of musculoskeletal pain in this sample than in the general population. Female and full-time drivers showed consistently higher rates of pain across all areas of the body then their male and part-time counterparts, while variables such as BMI and age showed less influence. Rates of pain in the lower back, shoulders, and knees were especially elevated. Of those experiencing pain in at least one area of the body, more than 50% were prevented from doing their normal work and visited a medical professional. For all drivers experiencing pain, there were large gaps in the rates of medical visits and worker’s compensation claims. Policy recommendations include the provision of active-suspension seats in the agency’s fleet of buses and better placement of key controls in the drivers’ workstation, two goals potentially attainable through increased participation of drivers in the bus-procurement process. The role of different route types, stop placement patterns, and road surfaces in addressing rates of musculoskeletal pain in bus drivers should also be investigated

Road Rage Menace: A Cross-sectional Study to Assess Driver Anger Level in Public Motor Vehicle Drivers in a City in Central India

Introduction: Road rage and aggressive driving is a prevalent condition in today’s society due to motorists’ frustrations during heavy traffic volumes. Objective: This study was done to assess the level of anger amongst the drivers of public transport vehicles in Indore, using Driving Anger Scale (DAS by Deffenbacher et. al.) and various factors affecting it. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 135 drivers of Public transport vehicle drivers (Star bus, City-van and star cab drivers) in Indore to assess their anger level using Driving Anger Scale. The participants were required to record the amount of anger they would experience in response to each item in the scale (1=not at all angry, 2=a little angry, 3=some anger, 4=much anger, 5=very much angry). Results: The mean DAS score in Indore was found to be 3.013 and in the three organizations namely Star bus drivers, City van drivers and Star cab drivers was 2.92, 3.08 and 3.04 respectively. The DAS score of drivers with respect to the 6 sub-scales were: hostile gestures (Star bus -3.42,City van -3.67,Star cab -3.38), slow driving (Star bus -2.73,City van driv-2.78,Star cab-3.17), traffic obstructions (Star bus-2.85,City van -3.25,Star cab-3.18), discourtesy (Star bus -3.23,City van-3.33,Star cab -3.25)and police presence (Star bus -2.15,City van -1.99,Star cab -2.78), illegal driving (Star bus -3.04,City van -3.14,Star cab -2.89). The DAS scores of the drivers did not vary significantly with age group, experience, and educational qualification. Conclusion: Though DAS scores did not vary between the three groups of drivers, however average level anger for various given circumstances commonly found in the Indian traffic scenario was on the higher side

"The War for the Fare": How Driver Compensation Affects Bus System Performance

Two systems of bus driver compensation exist in Santiago, Chile. Most drivers are paid per passenger transported, while a second system compensates other drivers with a fixed wage. Compared with fixed-wage drivers, per-passenger drivers have incentives to engage in "La Guerra por el Boleto" ("The War for the Fare"), in which drivers change their driving patterns to compete for passengers. This paper takes advantage of a natural experiment provided by the coexistence of these two compensation schemes on similar routes in the same city. Using data on intervals between bus arrivals, we find that the fixed-wage contract leads to more bunching of buses, and hence longer average passenger wait times. The per-passenger drivers are assisted by a group of independent information intermediaries called "sapos" who earn their living by standing at bus stops, recording arrival times, and selling the information to subsequent drivers who drive past. We find that a typical bus passenger in Santiago waits roughly 10% longer for a bus on a fixed-wage route relative to an incentive-contract route. However, the incentives also lead drivers to drive noticeably more aggressively, causing approximately 67% more accidents per kilometer driven. Our results have implications for the design of incentives in public transportation systems.

Bus accident severity and passenger injury: evidence from Denmark

Purpose Bus safety is a concern not only in developing countries, but also in the U.S. and Europe. In Denmark, disentangling risk factors that are positively or negatively related to bus accident severity and injury occurrence to bus passengers can contribute to promote safety as an essential principle of sustainable transit and advance the vision “every accident is one too many”. Methods Bus accident data were retrieved from the national accident database for the period 2002–2011. A generalized ordered logit model allows analyzing bus accident severity and a logistic regression enables examining occurrence of injury to bus passengers. Results Bus accident severity is positively related to (i) the involvement of vulnerable road users, (ii) high speed limits, (iii) night hours, (iv) elderly drivers of the third party involved, and (v) bus drivers and other drivers crossing in yellow or red light. Occurrence of injury to bus passengers is positively related to (i) the involvement of heavy vehicles, (ii) crossing intersections in yellow or red light, (iii) open areas, (iv) high speed limits, and (v) slippery road surface. Conclusions The findings of the current study provide a comprehensive picture of the bus safety situation in Denmark and suggest the necessity of further research into bus drivers’ attitudes and perceptions of risks and road users’ perceptions of bus operations. Moreover, these findings suggest the need for further training into bus drivers’ hazard recognition skills and infrastructural solutions to forgive possible driving errors

Kandungan Timbal dalam Darah dan Dampak Kesehatan pada Pengemudi Bus Kota Ac dan Non Ac di Kota Surabaya

The purpose of this study was to analyze blood lead levels and its health effects on Air Conditioner (AC) and non-AC bus drivers in Surabaya. This study was an analytical-observational study with cross sectional approach. The study was conducted from March to August 2006. The respondents was 30 DAMRI bus drivers consist of 15 AC and 15 nonAC bus drivers in the same high traffic route. The results showed that the average of air lead levels on AC buses lower than on nonAC buses. The average of blood lead levels of nonAC bus drivers was 49.3702 μg/100 ml, it was above the standart. Health effects on non-AC bus drivers were low haemoglobin level, hypertension, headaches, bone and muscular pain, and concentration difficulties. There was a difference in blood lead levels and health effects on bus drivers between AC buses and nonAC buses in Surabaya. It was recommended that public transportation in Surabaya should be equiped with ACs which has effective filter. Routine monitoring of blood lead level of bus drivers should be conducted. Keywords : air conditioner (AC), blood lead level, bus drivers, health effect

Status Kesehatan Pengemudi dan Kelaikan Bus Menjelang Mudik Lebaran Tahun 2015

Bus passenger safety on the road highly depends on the health status of the driver, bus certificate ofroadworthiness, and road factors. This paper aims to determine the health status of the bus driver, busroadworthiness, and the state of the road according to the driver's perspective few days before EidAl-Fitr. Survey was done, by cross-sectional design involving 190 bus drivers from two bus terminalsin Jakarta and one terminal in Surabaya. Data were collected through interviews and examination ofblood pressure, blood sugar, alcohol and drug use. Descriptive and bivariate analysis showed 12% ofdrivers had hyperglycemia, 27% had mild hypertension and 21% had moderate/severe hypertension.Bus drivers with moderate hypertension have 10 times the risk of non-roadworthy status compared withmild hypertension (CI 2.9 to 37.8). The use of amphetamine was 0,5%. The average bus readiness was97%, 5–7% did not check the seat belts, engine oil, 37% did not have fire extinguishers and 15% didnot have glass breakers. The road disturbing situation is motorcyclists, traditional market spilled andpotholes. The study recommends health checks that must be performed every month for all bus driversbefore departing Otobus Company (PO) and hypertensive drivers should receive treatment and strictsupervision. Moreover, health promotion of a healthy diet should be given to the bus drivers regularly

A mobile sensing approach to stress detection and memory activation for public bus drivers

Experience of daily stress among bus drivers has shown to affect physical and psychological health, and can impact driving behavior and overall road safety. Although previous research consistently supports these findings, little attention has been dedicated to the design of a stress detection method able to synchronize physiologic and psychological stress responses of public bus drivers in their day-to-day routine work. To overcome this limitation, we propose a mobile sensing approach to detect georeferenced stress responses and facilitate memory recall of the stressful situations. Data was collected among public bus drivers in the city of Porto, Portugal (145 hours, 36 bus drivers, +2300 km) and results supported the validation of our approach among this population and allowed us to determine specific stressor categories within certain areas of the city. Furthermore, data collected through-out the city allowed us to produce a citywide ”stress map” that can be used for spotting areas in need of local authority intervention. The enriching findings suggest that our system can be a promising tool to support applied occupational health interventions for public bus drivers and guide authorities’ interventions to improve these aspects in ”future” cities