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Driver Disability Awareness Training: Travel Dundee
A4.173 Case study based on interviews on 28/11/05 with:
Anne McDougall - Driver and SVQ Assessor
Hamish McKenzie - SVQ Assessor and Driver Instructor, including driver disability awareness instructor
William Murphy - Traffic Manager
A4.174 As well as interviewing the above, the researcher was taken through a condensed version of the driver disability awareness training module, including being issued with a pair of gloves (see below).
A4.175 The disability awareness training for Travel Dundee drivers started in September 2004 and 263 out of 270 drivers are now trained. The training was introduced in response to three main factors:
- The new duties on drivers under the DfT's 2002 revision of the Conduct of Drivers, Inspectors, Conductors and Passengers Regulations ( CDICP Regulations).
- Liaison with the City Council, particularly through its disability and transport group, DMAPS, which highlighted that there were occasionally some difficulties in relation to Travel Dundee ( TD) drivers' behaviour towards disabled passengers.
- Part of TD's wider strategy to become a high quality bus company. This also fits into the wider voluntary and now Statutory Quality Partnership between TD and the City Council, which fits into the latter's Local Transport Strategy ( LTS) and into the objectives of the Dundee City Community Plan.
A4.176 The training is part of a wider level 2 SVQ for Road Passenger Transport, which requires a driver to complete ten units, of which module 5, Helping Passengers with Special Needs, is the one that relates to disability awareness training. Not all drivers have registered to do the SVQ but around 98% have been put through the module on disability awareness, as it is compulsory for TD drivers.
A4.177 The training consists of a 17 minute video about the needs of, and how drivers can help, disabled people. Made by Travel West Midlands, the video features "real" disabled people (i.e. not actors) with a range of disabilities - hearing, learning, sight, deafness, mobility, and reduced stature. Drivers role-play both good and bad behaviour in relation to these passengers, including getting out of the cab to deploy wheelchair ramps and to physically assist passengers who have mobility problems. The video concludes with a summary of eleven "helpful hints" which are a précis of the CDICP Regulations.
A4.178 Drivers are then issued with a booklet (issued centrally by Travel West Midlands, the parent group of TD) which explains how to assist disabled people with a variety of disabilities, and why this is of benefit to all passengers, and to the company. They are taken through the booklet as part of the training. They also receive some instructions on basic sign language and definitions of different types of disability, as well as a summary of the CDICP Regulations, published by the DfT.
A4.179 The final part of the training takes place on bus in the depot. TD's fleet is 100% low floor. Drivers are shown, and practice, deploying different types of ramp, kneeling the bus to the right degree to get the angle of the ramp correct, and they practice assisting each other as they play the roles of people with different disabilities. This allows them to gain a much better idea of what it is like to be a disabled passenger and therefore to improve the service that they provide. All drivers are also issued with a pair of protective gloves to allow them to deploy the ramp and other equipment without getting dirty.
A4.180 The trainer reminds them to check that disabled passengers are safely seated before moving off, and to ask them where they are going, in order that the driver can tell them when they get there, or so that they can tell a relief driver who may be taking over the bus before the passenger's final stop. Drivers are actively encouraged to deploy the ramp at every stop where it is needed and where it is safe to do so which, in practice, is at the vast majority of stops. Their attention is drawn by the trainer to the final paragraph of the DfT summary of the CDICP regulations which points out that there should be very good reasons not to assist a disabled passenger, because if there are not, a driver risks action being taken against him and his company under the regulations.
A4.181 The training lasts around 1 hour. It therefore costs the company the staff time for this period, including that of the training staff. Training is repeated for those drivers about whom a complaint has been received from a disabled passenger. Since September 2004, only three drivers have had retraining for this reason.
A4.182 User feedback has been largely informal, through users, but has been overwhelmingly positive. It has included disabled people visiting the depot to take part in or observe driver disability awareness training sessions. However, there is also quantitative evidence available to show whether or not more disabled people are now travelling than did so before the training was introduced. There is no "mystery shopper" evaluation of bus driver behaviour to see whether all drivers are applying what they have been taught; however, SVQ trainers from TD (and who are therefore known to the drivers) do go out to observe driver behaviour as part of the wider SVQ assessment.
A4.183 In summary, this is a high quality, low-cost scheme training scheme that is clearly transferable to other companies.
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