Hang up and drive!

Today, leaving work, we had a pretty major safety issue.  The driver was training a new driver.  It wasn't an auspicious pickup; they went to the wrong driveway.  I guess they didn't bother to read the details on the pickup, which clearly state our location.  As a result, we were picked up pretty late. 

Then the driver got a phone call.  Drivers are not permitted to talk on a cellphone with a client in the vehicle.  It's a safety issue (boy, is it!).  If caught, it's an instant termination.  I heard a story of a client who got out, called dispatch, said "My driver was on a cell phone".  They had the driver pull over, reviewed the security footage, and fired them on the spot. 

So, she takes the call, because "It's the guy I trained last week".  He had a question, he had a lot of questions, about a very easy procedure he should have learned on the first day (my next driver - "Why didn't he call his supervisor?").  The driver is trying to answer these questions, but she can't talk and drive. 

I wasn't real happy when she almost drove, head-on, into the piling under the freeway, because she wasn't paying attention and needed to change lanes at the very last second.  I was pretty upset.  It was very rude, she had this whole "I'M ON THE PHONE, DON'T BOTHER ME!" attitude when I was simply trying to give her directions.  I said nothing, which is a big clue right there. 

When I got out, I was pissed.  I was pretty close to calling Metrolift right then and there, and letting them know "The driver who just dropped us off, is TRAINING, and on a cell phone, with us in the vehicle."  She would have been fired. 

I didn't want her to lose her job (although she will if she keeps it up; supervisors often shadow the drivers in regular cars, and wait to catch them on a cell phone with a client onboard), but I wanted her to stop this obviously unsafe behavior.   God let me know to wait a minute, so I did. 

On our next ride, I realized something: the driver who picked us up is a pretty major gossip.  I "confided" in her about the previous trip.  She was very eager for all the details, and outraged.  "Oh, that is wrong!  With a TRAINEE?  Into the overpass?"  It was obvious driver #2 planned to confront the first driver at the earliest opportunity. 

It will be all over the driver network by now.  So, the driver will know, her behavior was unacceptable, without being fired.  The supervisors will follow her now to monitor her safety and cell phone use.  The clients will be safer, and I won't be the horrible bitch who cost so-and-so her job.  I don't want her unemployed, I just want her to leave the phone in it's holster, when we're onboard.  She is incapable of talking and driving safely. 

I'll confide, I have had other drivers talk and drive with us onboard.  If it is not a safety issue, and they are "letting" me give directions when needed, I don't have a problem, especially if it is a very short call.  However, all of that could get any one driver fired.