IIRC in recent times at the Sydney Tramway Museum one of our drivers was a Qantas 747 pilot who had to pass a Qantas medical every three months. This medical was not acceptable to the authorities so he had to do a separate medical for a Category 2 medical to drive a tram with a second person on the platform.
Greg
--- InTramsDownUnder@..., "Bob Pearce" wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> The medical for a bus driver is not as stringent as for a rail train or tram
> driver - well not in WA anyhow.
>
>
>
> I have to have both - the Category 1 medical to driver a tram and because I
> work in the rail industry; and a bus type medical because I driver buses.
>
>
>
> The bus type medical doesn't cover half of the stuff that a cat 1 medical
> does, but I am yet to convince the boffins here that a cat 1 medical should
> be able to substitute for a bus industry medical, if the person concerned
> has to have a medical for each industry.
>
>
>
> And before someone starts to leap up and down, I am not advocating that bus
> industry workers should have a cat 1 medical.
>
>
>
> And on a previous topic where a suggestion for a name for idtent drivers in
> cars and so on (write it down as id10t) was asked for, I could suggest
> "Steering wheel attendants" which is used for some bus and truck drivers.
> Full of the qualifications, but no savvy or smarts about them at all.
>
> In fact some are about as sharp as a bowling ball.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Bob in Perth
>
>
>
> From:TramsDownUnder@... [mailto:TramsDownUnder@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Adam Greaves
> Sent: Monday, 4 February 2013 3:04 PM
> To:TramsDownUnder@...
> Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Re: Brisbane suburban train crash
>
>
>
>
>
> Maybe it was a rhetorical question... I'm not actually aware of any in the
> harbour (but doesn't mean it hasn't happened) but plenty have been unable to
> hold speed on steep descents and there have been fatalities. OTSI has
> investigated a few in recent years (Jindabyne, Barrengarry, Jamberoo) with
> different factors contributing (driver error due to inexperience, inadequate
> braking to due poor maintenance). Not quite the same, but my 'favourite' is
> still the Spit Rd bus crash of 2005... Also reminded of last week's US
> incident where passengers intervened when the bus driver passed out. Both
> were only not much worse by luck.
> So, train/tram drivers are subject to medicals, there are deadman devices on
> trains and trams, plus vigilance on trains, and ATP coming, ATP on the
> off-street Sydney Light Rail, and the vehicles are almost always constrained
> to the rails. On a bus you have... a driver who has had a medical. Just
> another molehill on the level playing field...
>
> Adam
>
> On 3/02/2013 9:07 AM, rnveditor wrote:
>
>
>
> Instead of building male toilets across the end of tracks, build a USA
> fast-food joint. Most drivers would then stop with care, and the rare crash
> would result in no serious loss to the world.
> Victoria had an example recently of wiping out a bank (ie money, not an
> earth mound) at the end of a siding: is anyone going to demand rippling
> speed stops in sidings?
> How often do aeroplanes overshoot airbridges, and plough into the terminal
> concourse?
> TDU often comes up with photos of trams overshooting a terminus and landing
> in Sydney Harbour. Could fancy electronics have solved that? That was solved
> by getting rid of trams. How often do buses land in Sydney Harbour?
>
> Roderick B Smith
> Rail News Victoria Editor
>