In Defense of DC Bus Driver Reading

July 24, 6:31 PMDC Books ExaminerWill Grofic

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Isn't a literate Metro worker a good thing?

 A month or so ago an Examiner staffer caught this photo of a DC bus driver reading at the wheel.  A couple of weeks ago it fit in nicely with the narrative of other Metro employees texting and appearing to be asleep on a metro train and bus.  This week, the Examiner followed up saying that they were going to review the lax rules on drivers being caught reading while driving.

I understand incompetence or putting people in dangerous situations when you are in charge of the safety and transport of people besides yourself.  I understand with what has happened with DC Metro in the past 2 months is tragic and there needs to be accountability across the board. But c'mon, this guy was reading (a book even!) in rush hour, on Connecticut Ave. between K and L.  He couldn't have been going more than....2 miles per hour?

Here's a good quote from the man who took the photo

J.P. Freire was riding the 42 route on Connecticut Avenue between K and L Streets during the rush-hour commute. He says he was sitting right next to the bus driver when he "noticed the bus driver constantly reaching into his bag, and pulling out a book and reading, and then when traffic would start to move a little bit more, he would look up and keep the book there and continue looking down."

Now this is terrible for DC Metro (obviously not as bad as texting or being asleep), the driver, and the passengers, but kind of comforting? There's a difference between texting (or reading texts) and reading. Reading has shown to make people smarter.  So we all agree he shouldn't have been doing this, but shouldn't we accept whatever we be happy there's still a reader of physical books out there these days?  I'll leave you with a quote from the linked study on reading:

Certainly our data demonstrate time and again that print exposure is associated with vocabulary, general knowledge, and verbal skills even after controlling for abstract reasoning abilities