16 Jun 2012, 1.56PM
I came across a Chinese article exposing forged bus driver’s license that I would like to share with fellow Singaporeans. I think this is very important for Singaporeans to know and the matter should be addressed.
Why these bus operators don’t dare to speak out is because there are many things about the hiring process that cannot be revealed. Due to the chronic shortage of bus drivers in Singapore, they turn a blind eye to the aspect of safe driving and hope the Chinese drivers already have knowledge about it.
This Chengdu news report may be a bit old (2007) but it highlighted the continual problems in China – that with the right price and right connections, anything can be ‘bought’.
In the report, Chengdu Traffic Police found out that there were 7 drivers in the bus company with forged license. How it came to light was by pure ‘accident’. One of the bus driven by the driver got into a minor mishap with a taxi. Traffic police determined that it is the fault of the taxi driver which caused the crash.
Upon examining the bus driver’s license with close scrutiny, traffic police realized that the driver’s license was very well forged! The authorities immediately contacted the bus company and check each of the drivers’ license. Another 6 drivers were found to have forged driver’s license!
The public bus company came under investigation too. Where is their internal checks? By having someone with forged qualification driving the bus, the company is endangering the lives of every passenger on board. These drivers could also have endanger other road users.
The moral of the story: driver’s license can be bought or easily attained if you have the right connections. Even the bus company could not tell if the license are forged unless they counter check with the Chengdu Traffic Police. I do hope there is some sort of ‘check’ done by Singapore bus companies hiring PRC drivers.
Since 2008, Singapore bus companies have been recruiting bus drivers from Chengdu. It is not known if the Singapore bus companies checked with Chengdu Traffic Police whether the driving licence of all the applicants are genuine.
天天载着乘客行驶在大街小巷，担负着整车乘客安全的7名公交车司机竟没有驾车资格，所持的驾照都是伪造的！这一怪事发生在成都513路等公交线路上。目 前，这7名司机已被成都天运公交公司“当即予以除名”，但留下一个巨大的悬念———成都还有多少把乘客安全当儿戏的歪公交司机？警方正在对此事作进一步调 查。
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Mr Lee
(Singaporean working in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, PRC)
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4d2ae46201000958.html