Usually, multitasking is seen as a good thing. But where driving and cell phones are concerned, it's potentially dangerous: Harvard University's Center for Risk Analysis estimates that the use of cell phones while driving causes 2,600 deaths and 570,000 injuries annually.
Tufts students have observed drivers for Joseph's Limousine and Transportation -- the company that the University uses for its shuttle into Davis Square and the New England Conservatory (NEC) -- talking frequently on their cell phones. While Massachusetts does not have a law preventing this, Joseph's Limousine does.
"Sometimes, if I can't get in touch with them by radio and I need to contact then, I will call them on their cell phones," said Joseph's Limousines Manager Gerry DiBari. "But [drivers] are not supposed to be using the cell phone for personal calls while they're driving,"
Nonetheless, some drivers do. "You've seen it, I've seen it," senior and TCU Senate Treasurer Josh Belkin said. "There have been plenty of times when we've been sitting there and the driver's on their phone and not paying full attention, and tries to pull out into heavy traffic."
Sophomore Alison Isaacs, who rides the Davis Square shuttle on a daily basis, said that drivers talking on cell phones are "very" common. "It happens at least semi-daily," she said. "And it's personal calls -- they're not calling the shuttle dispatcher."
Though neither Joseph's nor the Tufts Department of Public Safety, through which Joseph's is contracted, has received many official complaints regarding drivers' cell phone use, students do call in to convey general conerns. "We do receive complaints for various reasons, including some concerns over drivers' cell phones," TUPD Captain Mark Keith said. "This year, since September, we've received a few -- two or three -- from students or staffers."
Though Public Safety fields official shuttle-related complaints, Belkin said that "[the Senate] gets a lot of anecdotal stuff and hearsay." He said that drivers' use of cell phones is a concern. "We [the Senate] are students, too -- we see it as an issue," he said.
A possible reason for the lack of formal complaints is that students may just assume that talking on the cell phone while driving the shuttle, though not recommended, is allowed.
Belkin was unaware of Joseph's policy on drivers' cell phone use: "If Joseph's allows it and knows about it, that's one issue," he said. "If they're not aware that their drivers are doing it, that's another issue."
Despite seeing drivers talking on their cell phones while driving on a "semi-daily" basis, Isaacs has also never formally complained -- she was unaware, she said, of Joseph's policy.
According to DiBari, it's difficult to keep tabs on drivers' inappropriate cell phone use unless students register an official complaint. "It's a lot easier for me if students tell me the time the driver was on the cell phone," DiBari said. "They don't need to give me names -- I can pinpoint who it was, and whether they were talking to me."
If it was determined that the driver was making personal calls while driving, DiBari said that he'd sit down and talk with the driver and, if necessary, remove him or her from the Tufts route.
"In most instances, complaints come in about past practices -- students don't call while they're on the shuttle and say, 'Hey, I'm on the shuttle and I'm worried because the driver's on the cell phone and distracted,'" Keith said, adding that students can formally complain either to Public Safety or directly to Joseph's. "Usually, they'll [call or e-mail] the next day and say, 'The driver was using a cell phone and I was worried.'"
Like DiBari, Keith emphasized that such delayed, anecdotal complaints are less helpful than more specific ones. "I would encourage students, if they observe drivers talking on their cells while driving, to either call or e-mail us, and to indicate the time and day it happened," he said, adding that "timely notification is really important" in identifying the offending drivers.
While some students are worried about shuttle drivers' use of cell phones, others are less concerned. "I've ridden on the Joey many times while the driver was talking on a cell phone, but they never seemed overly distracted," senior Julie Medway said.
Freshman Chase Webber agreed, saying that, though he's "ridden on the Joey a few times while the driver talked on a cell phone, it didn't seem to affect their driving."
There has been only one accident this year involving a shuttle run by Joseph's. It took place off-campus on the NEC shuttle, and "to our knowledge, it was not related to cell phone usage," Keith said.
