Bus Drivers in Tennessee

It is quite notable of how bus driving is one of the most valued professions in Tennessee. Those interested in venturing in this famed career have to undergo through several training sessions. This might appear quite strange to people in other countries as apparently not in many countries where bus driving is recognized as an important career to venture in. Those who are unable to continue with their studies normally will tend to divert towards this career as it does not have many legal procedures. After one acquires a driving license, the next thing is looking for a job without even putting into consideration whether this person has acquired sufficient working experience. This is completely different from how the same profession is practiced in Tennessee.

In order for one to adequately comprehend how appreciable the career happens to be, it is important to closely scrutinize various aspects tied up with the same. Tennessee Department dealing with Labor & Workforce Development has been waiting in anticipation for improvement of the sector.

The department tends to expect that the need in place for workers in the industry dealing with transportation in this particular state situated at the Central America will actually rise by a recommendable rate of 2 percent. This was the vision ever since the year 2008 up to the year 2018. It is alleged that this will not only lead to development of this particular state but also it will tend to create an approximated value of ten thousand jobs in the entire transportation field, all thanks to the seriousness and concern when it comes to issues pertaining to the transportation field.

Tennessee Transit and Intercity bus drivers achieve a calculated amount of about $26,670 per annum. This is the figure that was given by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics as of may 2009. In the state, salaries were as low as 26% below the U.S national average of about $35,990 per year. Drivers of this caliber should have a Class C Commercial Driver's License and a passenger Endorsement issued by the Tennessee Department that deals with safety. The annual earnings of the school bus drivers were an approximated value of $21,970. This was about 22% the nation's average of the gained amount of around $28,050. The amount payable to the driver depends on the type of vehicle they operate (Harrison, 2011).

Drivers are categorized in various levels. First there are the transit and school bus drivers and then there are the heavy truck drivers. These deal with vehicles that have a gross weight of around 26,001 tons and above and have the capability of 10,001 haul or even more. Thirdly there are the Delivery and Route Drivers. They deal with smaller vehicles that toe less than 10,000 pounds and tend to make much shorter trips as compared to the heavy truck drivers. A delivery truck driver is required to have a Class B CDL if their vehicle weighs around 26,000 pounds and above. The last category is the Taxi Drivers and Chauffeurs. These ones never require a license. However if they are to transport fifteen passengers at a time, in that case a driving license is demanded for.

Considering the annual earning that the Tennessee drivers earn, one will easily notice the tremendous difference as compared to almost all other states in the U.S and even some of the rest of the world's countries. The amount the Tennessee drivers earn is not even comparable to what individuals who hold prominent professions in some other nations earn and this is an evidence of the level of dignity the profession has secured for itself in this particular state.

Bus drivers tend to have more responsibilities when compared to car drivers. In actual fact, both truck and bus drivers are expected to live to up to equal standards and also the laws that bind them just like the rest of the drivers on the road. On the hand, there exists other laws referred to as special safety laws that tend to cover most of the commercial drivers, bus drivers included. Interestingly, there are some operation hours that are set aside before taking a break in order to save the drivers from being tired by the long journeys they travel which sometimes may even be the cause to possible accidents.

A maximum of eleven hours is recommended for the bus drivers' operation after which they have to stop for a break. Also, regardless of the time spend behind the wheel, it is compulsory for the bus drivers to stop, take a break for around fourteen hours after the driver clocked in to work for a shift and then progress with their journey. The break recommended has to be about ten hours in a row regardless of the number of companies the driver works for. For successive compliance of the law, bus and truck drivers must take a break of approximately ten hours from any and all jobs attended to.  

It is somehow interesting to note the relationship between police and the bus drivers as pertains to the compliance of the driving rules and regulations. The drivers ought to have with them log books detailing for them to be assumed to have fully complied with the driving rules implemented by the police. This means that wherever the bus or truck driver happens to be at the very moment the police caught up with them, be it when driving, at work though not behind the wheel, completely off the duty or even when sleeping in a bed situated in the back of the vehicle's cab.

To maintain the high level of security consciousness, it is mandatory for both bus and truck drivers to countercheck their vehicles and cargo being ferried just before and immediately after driving to ensure that no security issues arise. It also required of them to make and keep a record of each time they inspected their vehicles and the vehicle's mileage at that particular moment it was inspected.

As a matter of legality, the bus drivers are recommended to pull over and stop driving if at all the weather or the condition on the road become dangerous to drive along. If an accident happens to occur and either the driver gets a ticket or one of the passengers dies as a result, the bus driver should immediately take both a drug and alcohol test. However, these are just but few of the rules that apply the commercial vehicles drivers, bus drivers inclusive. This brings one to attention that a driver ought to hire a prominent lawyer whose work will be assisting the drivers in the cases (Day, 2010).

May be owing to the tough rules that bind the transport sector, it may not surprise when one notices  that there are few cases of road accident, highway robbery among other road related tragedies and especially when one compares the situation in other countries. Apparently, most of the deaths registered in many countries are actually related to road accidents. However how governments in these countries struggle to streamline the situation on their roads, they have been able to achieve an insignificant improvement.

Contrary, bus drivers in Tennessee promptly conform to any new rule touching on the road welfare. Whenever the law seems contradicting, the drivers have their lawyers who on time seek for clarification of the same. One then gets to think that the rest of the world should emulate the system in Tennessee and those are successive will live to tell the passion got from driving safely.