First published in April 2005 issue of the Schock Absorber. The official newsletter of the New York Association for Pupil Transportation (NYAPT)

Can judgment be taught?

by Jim Ellis

One of the frustrations of being a Supervisor is spending time dealing with problems caused by a few drivers who seem to be experts at poor judgment in unforeseen or challenging situations. (Correspondingly, don’t we love the drivers who put out fires instead of pouring gas on them?)

What do I mean by poor bus driver judgment? Here’s a few examples from my own experience:

1. Bus driver makes a U-turn (fully loaded) on a busy, 4-lane road.

2. Bus driver criticizes one student’s family in front of the whole bus load of students.

3. Bus driver rear-ends a car, does not call it in, and continues on the route.

4. Bus driver pulls his bus onto the shoulder of a busy interstate highway to reprimand a student over a minor infraction.

5. Bus driver forces a 6 year old off the bus at his regular assigned stop even though the child said he wasn’t supposed to get off there that day. (Bus driver didn’t radio base.)

6. Bus driver ignores a warning from one student that another student is in danger.

Examples

Poor judgment isn’t just an unconscious error or omission - it involves the belief system of the bus driver. Tellingly, drivers involved in incidents like the above usually defend their actions (even if their rationales are often kind of nutty). For instance, using the examples above:

Example 1: “I had to get those kids off the bus as soon as I can - they were terrible! That U-turn cut 5 minutes off the run.”

Example 2: “If you don’t stand up to that family in public, the kids will walk all over you.”

Example 3: “The radio was busy. Anyway, I gave the other motorist my information.”

Examples #4 and 5 illustrate how information and good judgment are two different things. Both drivers claimed they were “just doing what they’d been taught” - pulling the bus over to deal with discipline problems in one case, and not dropping children off at unapproved stops in the other.

In other words, some bus drivers blame their stupid acts not on their immaturity, but...on you! “You told me to do it!”

I believe in training. But no training program can possibly address every situation a bus driver will encounter. I also believe “fortune favors the prepared mind,” as Pasteur put it, but it’s clear that providing drivers with safety information doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll apply it intelligently.

We need to expand our concept of training to explore the role of judgment. Involving drivers in honest discussions of real-world scenarios like the above is one place to start. Of course, it takes sensitivity and skill on the trainer’s part to broach such a volatile topic.

I saved Example 6 for last to remind us of the importance of this topic. In spite of warnings from students on the bus that another student was being dragged, the bus driver kept going. At the inquest, the driver said he thought they were pulling his leg.

Jim Ellis served as Director of Research & Instructional Design at  PTSI from September 2000 to March 2006. He is currently Transportation Supervisor at Moravia (NY) Central School District.