Spring Break
Two BranVan drivers were fired after vehicle accidents
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 11/4/08
Posted online at 2:51 AM EST on 11/4/08
Two student BranVan employees were recently fired after being involved in three accidents that were caused by human negligence, according to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan.
Callahan declined to provide details about the incidents or to provide the drivers' names.
The two students involved in the accidents declined to comment.
According to the Police Log, there was a report Oct. 24 that an escort van was involved in an accident on Main Street with no reported injuries. On Oct. 30 a mirror on a BranVan was struck while the van was off-campus. Last Friday, a party "notified University Police that his vehicle and BranVan #56 were involved in a minor [accident] on the corner of South Street and Angleside Road."
Callahan explained that termination of the two BranVan employees involved in recent accidents was necessary because negligence is an insurance concern. "These students are paid to be careful and transport students and members of the community, and if they're involved in an accident and we continue to let them drive and they're involved in an accident again and someone gets hurt, it's a major liability issue."
"The whole premise of the system is the safe operation and the safe transport of the community members," Callahan said. "Even one accident is unacceptable."
The chances for those drivers to return to employment are "slim," he stated. "Once you're in an accident [involving negligence], you're terminated, and that's it," he said. Callahan explained that in this case, negligence can refer to drivers not looking in their mirrors or driving with excess speed.
The drivers "were not paying attention to what they were paid to do," Callahan said. He said he thought the termination process had been handled fairly. "It's a little different than other jobs on campus like filing or copying," he said. "People's lives are in these students' hands."
Student Head Coordinator for Escort Services David Devallon '09 declined to comment because he understood that a Justice reporter had already spoken with Callahan.
Callahan declined to provide details about the incidents or to provide the drivers' names.
The two students involved in the accidents declined to comment.
According to the Police Log, there was a report Oct. 24 that an escort van was involved in an accident on Main Street with no reported injuries. On Oct. 30 a mirror on a BranVan was struck while the van was off-campus. Last Friday, a party "notified University Police that his vehicle and BranVan #56 were involved in a minor [accident] on the corner of South Street and Angleside Road."
Callahan explained that termination of the two BranVan employees involved in recent accidents was necessary because negligence is an insurance concern. "These students are paid to be careful and transport students and members of the community, and if they're involved in an accident and we continue to let them drive and they're involved in an accident again and someone gets hurt, it's a major liability issue."
"The whole premise of the system is the safe operation and the safe transport of the community members," Callahan said. "Even one accident is unacceptable."
The chances for those drivers to return to employment are "slim," he stated. "Once you're in an accident [involving negligence], you're terminated, and that's it," he said. Callahan explained that in this case, negligence can refer to drivers not looking in their mirrors or driving with excess speed.
The drivers "were not paying attention to what they were paid to do," Callahan said. He said he thought the termination process had been handled fairly. "It's a little different than other jobs on campus like filing or copying," he said. "People's lives are in these students' hands."
Student Head Coordinator for Escort Services David Devallon '09 declined to comment because he understood that a Justice reporter had already spoken with Callahan.
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