Monday, April 11, 2011

Decisions, Decisions

I'm on a two day tour to Niagara Falls from New York City with an international group of travelers. We left Manhattan at 8:00AM and we were not on the road too long traveling thru New Jersey when I realized that our driver seemed to be a little (a lot) erratic in his driving. He would drift over the lines and then overcorrect and drift over the other line. I became very alert to his behavior and it seemed to me that he was probably distracted or tired. He was not familiar with the route we normally take on this tour which, in itself would not be too much of a problem since it is the tour director's responsibility to determine the route and direct the driver. But as I gave him directions his reaction times were also sluggish and he was often confused. He was fidgety at the wheel and continuously snacking on cakes and pretzels and drinking coffee and water. These were all red flags to me that he was too tired to be driving.
So we made a rest stop and I contacted my company and explained the situation including the fact that several of the passengers had also expressed concerns and in fact were not comfortable getting back on the bus with this driver. After contacting the bus company and "strongly" urging them to replace the driver, they agreed to do so.
So our 30 minute breakfast stop turned into 2 hours while we waited for the new driver to arrive from Staten Island.
When I spoke to the driver he admitted that he was a little tired, didn't get much sleep (2 hours)but he assured me that he would be ok and that he was a good driver, and that he just needed to sleep for half an hour. I said "Not!" I told him that maybe on another trip he might have been a good driver but not on this one, and we were waiting for a replacement to arrive.
My passengers were all in agreement with my decision and were very patient waiting for the new driver who arrived about an hour and a half later and got us on our way. Everyone is much more comfortable and relaxed and now enjoying the ride. Our new driver is very competent and well rested.
So goes the life of a tour director. One never knows what decisions one will have to make along the way but it is always best to decide on SAFETY...schedules be damned!

3 comments:

LaSal said...

You are one smart cookie!!!!

Suzie said...

Good call AA! Glad everyone, especially you, are safe!! xo

Andrew Spark said...

Any chance he was the same tour bus driver that ran over a guy the other day in the city while driving drunk?

Anyway, how did he handle it?