Metro train and bus operators caught using cell phones or PDAs while operating a vehicle will be immediately fired beginning Monday.
The announcement from Metro General Manager John Catoe comes after two videos surfaced showing a Metrorail operator appearing to text while driving a train and another appearing to be sleeping. The driver who appeared to be texting was suspended without pay for five days.
“There is no excuse for anyone who is operating a Metrobus or Metrorail train to be using a cell phone or texting other than for an emergency situation, regardless of whether there are passengers on board,” Catoe said.
Metro used to use a “three strikes” policy, where the first two infractions forced suspension and after the third, job termination.
The new policy does allow for Metro operators to use cell phones during Metro-defined “emergency situations.”
The train operator who crashed into the stopped train in front of her on June 22, killing eight other people and injuring more than 70, was not using her cell phone at the time of the crash, according to a preliminary investigation. After the crash, investigators found Jeanice McMillan’s cell phone in her backpack.
