Tallinn investigating bus driver filmed using mobile phone on duty
The City of Tallinn's transport department is investigating footage taken of one of its bus drivers using their mobile phone while driving, Postimees' Russian-language edition reported.
A Postimees reader took footage of the driver of a number 60 Tallinn bus last Sunday morning, which shows the driver using the steering wheel with one hand while holding a smartphone, seemingly in use and causing a potential distraction, in the other hand.
City of Tallinn Transport Department (TLT) X Rasmus Sachs thanked the member of the public for flagging the incident, confirming that using a smartphone while driving is unacceptable and does not meet TLT safety standards and commitments to passenger safety, adding internal procedures in respect of the driver are in motion.
Sachs stressed the incident was an isolated case which does not reflect on the cadre of 1,525 drivers as a whole, who "carry out their jobs professionally and responsibly," adding TLT serves around 350,000 passengers per day on routes which would equate to a distance "approximately two and a half times around the Earth" per year.
The Postimees reader who filmed the footage claimed it was not the first time they had witnessed such activity and suggested TLT's management board resign.
According to §33 (11) (1) of the Road Traffic Act, any driver is prohibited from engaging "in activities that may impede the ability to drive or comprehension of the traffic environment while driving, including using a telephone without a hands-free device and holding a telephone in hand while the vehicle is moving."
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
