The Van Driver

[flecc]

The only advice I would give your friend, or anyone like him, is find a driving job in a large firm with an active union, that will force the employer to be the one to take on board a safe standard all drivers can meet. Or do what I did later, and drive for an open top tour operator or chauffeur service, where driving excellence meant more than speed.[/COLOR][/FONT]

He's been happily self employed ever since, but not in delivery driving. He still looks unhappy if that driving incident crops up and has clearly never forgiven himself for hurting someone in that way.

Like Hawkwind, he'll never go back to that sort of work, and I suspect that's true of most who escape the worst kind of driving jobs on our roads. If one thing's certain, both the van driving employment conditions and the road conditions get steadily worse all the time.
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[Branwen]

I must admit, I thought I would never drive a bus again, and was forced to take my vehicle back to the depot by the union and boss, who both said it was a case of getting back on the horse so I didnt make a rash decision later to stop driving. After a couple of years I took a summer job driving an open top bus, and it was actually a joy. The boss, tour guide, and foreign tourists were all very appreciative of displays of good driving, and the whole bus would give a cheer whenever manouvering around particularly difficult obstacles and you got a lot of tips and compliments as passengers got off.

It was quite healing for me, and I no longer have that pained reaction I used to whenever the incident that cost me my confidence arose.

 

[Footie]

Jobs that involve driving can bring real pressures as you say.
I can add my two-pennies worth to this.
In my last job I was asked to fill in for a school mini-bus driver as he went sick. This was the big 17 seaters. This involved leaving the school at 6.30am and collecting the pupils and returning to the school for the start of school – ideally 8.45am – no later. Of course if you know anything about mini-bus driving you know the legal speed limit on ordinary roads is 50 mph. To make matters worse, the bus route was along rural lanes (often single track) and over 90% of the route was in 30 mph zones. I did it for six months and in all that time I never got back to the school before 9.10am.
The worrying fact is I don’t now how the previous driver or the one that took over from me did it but they both managed to get back in time every day.
I am glad to say that this practice ended a few years ago when the buses where done away with and now the kids come in by individual taxis.

PS: The electric bike is going great. And yes it is heavy but my legs are getting stronger each time I use it

 

[Branwen]

PS: The electric bike is going great. And yes it is heavy but my legs are getting stronger each time I use it

I must admit to feeling slightly peeved that despite having an electric bicycle I am still overtaken in all weathers by lads in lycra with calves like russian shot putters... sigh