BUS DRIVERS’ HOURS

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 28001, 22 June 1956, Page 8

BUS DRIVERS’ HOURS

TRANSPORT BOARD’S ' LICENCES AMENDMENT TO EARLIER APPLICATION At the third hearing before the, Metropolitan Licensing Authority the i Christchurch Transport Board amen-1 ded its application for an alteration in the consecutive hours of rest clause in its licences. The original application, said Mr W. 1 K. L. Dougall, was for an alteration which would permit the board to reduce the 10 consecutive hours of rest in any period of 24 hours, as provided in section 30 (1) (c) of the Transport Licensing Regulations, 1950, to eight hours on any one day each week for the change of shifts and on race days and show day. The board was now withdrawing its application so far as it referred to the change in shifts, said Mr Dougall. | and now sought for authority to work ; up to 15 drivers on race and show ; days up to a spread-over period of 15 hours. These men would not then j be required to work again until noon the following day. During his submissions, drawn up | before he received notice of the j board’s proposal to apoly for an amendment. Mr L. C. Southon. for , the New Zealand Tramway Union, i challenged the board with completely ' altering the grounds of its applica- . tion. “You are now seeking an extension I of driving hours, not a reduction of i the 10-hour break,” he said. “The whole nature of your application is changed.’’ Mr Dougall: We are now asking for less than originally. The chairman (Mr R. M Macfarlane. M.P.): Mr Southon is still objecting, j of course? Mr Southon: Yes. The hearing was adjourned. Safety Standards The board’s amended application ; met the objections of the New Zealand Drivers’ Federation in part, said Mr B. A. Barrer, but still did not meet the requirements of the Trans- ! port Licensing Regulations, 1950, on ‘ minimum safety standards. “The application would nevertheless j affect 28 days a year—not an unsub- : stantial part of the board's activities,” ; he said. A similar application in Taranaki in 1953 had been declined, said Mr ; Barrer. Fatigue had been shown to be in many instances responsible for acci-) dents on the road, said Mr W. J. 1 Welsh, national secretary of the New | Zealand Drivers’ Federation. Diesel fumes were also believed to be a factor, and drivers had complained of ■ their effects. Mr Southon: The board can work a | man a total of 15 hours on a Saturday show-day, then 12 hours on the Sun- 1 day—a total of 27 hours’ work in 39. ' Is that not too much? I Mr Welsh: Too much for any man. i There should be exceptional circumstances before the board made any application which would reduce the standards prescribed in the regulations, said Mr Southon. ‘‘This authority should regard as its first duty the upholding of the provisions of the regulations unless there are very good leasons to the contrary, and those reasons do not conflict with the over-rid- ] mg importance of the safety of thei public and. ps an auxiliary aspect, the welfare of the drivers.” j Grounds of Objection The union objected on three grounds, said Mr Southon: (1) That the granting of the application would be likely to harm the public safety; (2) That the granting of the application would be inconsistent with the welfare of drivers employed by the board, and the public interest might! be affected by consequent resignations of drivers and shortage of driving staff of the board. (3) That there were no circumstances existing which justified the granting of the application. ‘‘lt is obvious that if a driver is required to work in heavy traffic for either an excessive length of time or without proper rest periods he becomes a menace to the public, and there is always a very real chance that’ a driver will relax and fall asleep whilst driving,” said Mr Southon. “The granting of the application could have a most detrimental effect on the health of drivers, their efficiency and their contentment in their work.” said Mr Southon, and could result in drivers seeking other employment. with consequent loss of staff. There were no special circumstances to justify the application, he said. ‘‘Where a difficulty in the provision of transport services is foreseeable . . . then it is the duty of the board to make provision for meeting sucn difficulties in the same way as any other business has to meet difficulties which it knows in advance are ahead.” No Staff Shortage Harold Pointer, traffic manager for )he board, said that the problem was to get drivers to man the buses to take people io the races; there was no problem in manning buses after the races. Mr Barrer: Your application is that, on a particular day. men would be required to work a spread-over of 15 hours, which would leave them with only nine hours’ rest. Mr Pointer: Yes. Mr Dougall: This is limited to 15 men on any one day, and no man would be required to work all of the 26 possible such days during the year? —That is correct. There was no shortage of staff, said Mr Pointer. Ninety-five per cent, of the men were willing to work a sixday week. ‘‘lt seems, then, to be a matter of economics.” said Mr Southon. “Surely it is better to pay a little extra to protect the welfare of the men and the safety of the public—this rest period in the regulations is a minimum. not a maximum. Mr Pointer: This is going to cost the board a lot more in the future. The men are not available at the times we want them. If we employed more men we could not fit them into the scheme to comply with the regulations and overcome this problem.