Shocking moment when a city bus driver is caught by camera watching videos on his phone while driving – while authorities stop him
- A bus driver was caught appearing to be watching TV while driving
- The transport worker in Brisbane was wearing headphones
- Brisbane City Council said an investigation is underway
A bus driver has been stopped after he was caught on camera appearing to watch a video on a mobile phone on his dashboard while driving.
The Brisbane City Council employee was wearing white earphones with the telephone under the steering wheel when he was filmed by a passenger
The BCC said the man will be detained pending an investigation and described the incident as “disappointing, dangerous and clearly unacceptable.”
The footage, taken from a front passenger seat, was uploaded to social media on Saturday and showed the driver driving down a covered bus lane.
The Brisbane bus driver was caught on camera as the vision played out on the phone sitting under the wheel of the vehicle while wearing white earphones (pictured)
The vision showed a large telephone sitting next to the speedometer playing a scene from a movie or TV show (pictured)
The big phone sat next to the speedometer and seemed to be playing a scene from a movie or TV show.
The driver, wearing a black jacket, can be seen using the turn signals as he directed the 222 bus towards Carindale and approaching a bus stop
The footage was posted with the caption, “A bus driver in Brisbane was filmed by a passenger using his phone while driving.”
But most social media commentators responded in defense of the driver.
“Heaven forbid he listens to anything while driving…you can very clearly see he’s looking at the road, not the phone screen,” said one online user.
“What else are you going to be doing on that daily 700km round trip,” wrote another.
“Maybe he was looking at how far he could go with his Netflix subscription,” a third quipped.
But the vision led another to disagree: “You look at things when you’re at home, you don’t look at anything while you’re driving.”
Another asked, “Didn’t you do the crossword while driving the bus?”
Translink said it took the footage “very seriously.”
“As soon as Translink became aware of this video featuring a driver employed by one of our delivery partners, we immediately reported the matter to them for an investigation to begin,” the company said.
“We expect all our drivers to comply with Queensland traffic regulations at all times.”
The images come after BCC kicked off a massive recruitment drive last April to solve a drastic shortage of bus drivers in Brisbane.
Translink canceled 1,300 services in South East Queensland over three weeks between March and April this year due to driver shortages.
Alderman Ryan Murphy, chair of BCC’s transportation committee, said at the time that the council needed to hire 160 new bus drivers “and we need them fast.”
The driver wore a black coat while driving the 222 Carindale bus and used the turn signals as the vehicle approached a bus stop
The alarming images come after Brisbane City Council launched a massive recruitment drive last April to solve a drastic shortage of bus drivers in Brisbane (pictured, buses in Brisbane’s CBD)
The lack of bus drivers around the world is due to high attrition rates, lack of clear career progression, rigid schedules and rivalries with rideshare industries, according to the International Association of Public Transport.
It also predicted an impending “silver tsunami” – a wave of retirements amid the aging bus driver workforce.
“Drivers who have driven with us from the start of their careers are now reaching retirement age,” Cr Murphy admitted in April.
“They’re leaving full-time bus driving and we’re not seeing the same number of full-time drivers coming into the system to replace them.”
A Queensland Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the incident has not been reported to officers.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted BCC and Translink for comment.