Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Multitasking behind the wheel

Unreal:


That's terrifying. The above video is of an STO driver filling out and filing paperwork while driving on what is reportedly one of Gatineau's busiest roads. With traffic obviously moving all around him. I don't even want to imagine being on that bus, or being a driver alongside him.

From a CBC article on the incident:
"Dominique Leclerc, speaking for Société de transport de l'Outaouais, said the driver's behaviour was unsafe and that the service would speak with him to get "his version."

"The bus driver's union wouldn't comment on the video, but a union official told CBC News the recording might violate the driver's privacy rights."
I'd be interested in hearing what kind of defence the driver might be able to come up with. I can't imagine a circumstance that would make that transgression acceptable.

While it's true that the video is likely a violation of the driver's privacy, you'd have to be kidding yourself to expect someone not to when you're doing something so ridiculous. Did you see the part where he stuck his arms through the wheel and onto the dash to grab some papers?

Like I said, unreal.

4 comments:

Scott Connery (h) said...

Let me get this straight.. taking a video of a public driver doing unsafe and illegal activities is a violation of the DRIVER's rights. Ummm.... How about the violation of safety laws? Public endangerment laws? It also has to be against more than a few STO driver regulations. But we are worried about the privacy rights of the driver of a public bus. How is one to report such things if taking such a video is illegal?

JuliaR said...

When I saw his arm go through the steering wheel, I gasped. I remember being taught in no uncertain terms when I was learning to drive, that this was a highly dangerous maneuver. "You could break your arm right off!" someone screamed at me.

As for privacy, don't they usually decide these things on "expectation of privacy"? If you are on the street, you can have your photo taken with no credit or compensation because there is no expectation of privacy. A bus is a pretty public place.

dzuunmod said...

I did a journalism degree at Concordia and took a course on the media and the law. One of the things we learned is that in Quebec (and it is unique in North America, at least, in this respect) it is a violation of the civil code to take a photograph of someone (in which they are recognizable) without their permission and then publish that photograph in a public place, such as Facebook or a blog or, one would suppose, on Youtube.

Yes, it's terrible what this driver is doing, but he may have a civil case against the person that took the video.

Here's a link that goes into it in much more detail: http://www.adidem.org/Privacy:_A_New_Trojan_Horse%3F

dzuunmod said...

And just to be clear, I'm talking about photos of individuals that are taken in public places, as well. Someone could be crossing at Ste-Catherine and Peel, unknowingly have their picture taken and published to the Web by someone, and they would have a case against that person.

You could be at the big, free concerts at the jazz fest, in the background of someone's picture of their friends, and theoretically sue them if they put the picture up on Facebook.