Motions

I’m getting concerned. This feeling of just going through the motions while driving here is growing stronger. This is my sixth winter operating a bus on icy, snow covered treacherous roads, and lately it just doesn’t faze me. I have this attitude that it is what it is and I find myself driving in the zone. My defensive driving functions are working well, it’s just that I have no passion for it.

I’m also experiencing a permeating sense of operational futility. It’s the same old stuff, different day, different month, different year. The company expects us to follow the route presented by our on-board computers, but most of the time it’s nonsense so we just do what needs to be done and move on to the next day. Requests to dispatch for corrections are arduous and ineffectual, so now we don’t even bother.

As a seasoned professional driver for many years now, and a former transit supervisor, I’m well aware of the dangers of complacency while driving. That’s not what I’m suffering from as I care very much for the safety of my passengers. It’s just called going through the motions…