BY ARTHUR GREEN, STAR Writer
THE DRIVER OF a bus plying the Kingston to Yallahs route, was brought to tears on December 30, when all but three passengers disembarked along the Bull Bay main road in protest of his erratic driving.
The passengers became angry when the driver ignored their repeated requests to drive more responsibly.
The fittingly named driver, Desmond Shooter, apparently trying to live up to the bus' name, 'Shot Dem', had several near misses during the 25-minute journey to Bull Bay. The bus, which was filled to capacity, made a dramatic swerve along the Rockfort main road and 'grazed' a parked vehicle while overtaking along the Florizel Glasspole Highway.
This caused mass hysteria among passengers, but not even this was enough to 'slow' the driver down. He drove along the soft shoulder for the better part of the Harbour View to Bull Bay stretch of the journey, undertaking several vehicles in the process. Further along, he attempted to overtake a vehicle around a corner and barely escaped a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle.
But when the driver almost swept a pedestrian off the sidewalk, the passengers decided enough was enough, and despite repeated pleas from the driver and conductor, they refused to re-enter the bus and decided to complete their journey on another vehicle. Apparently the trauma of losing a full, peak hour 'load' as well as the money this load would have translated into, was too much for the driver to bear. He broke down in tears.
The passengers, however, were not moved by his 'remorse' and stood their ground. One woman stated, "Mi nuh decide fi go wid 2005, the new year soon start." Another man said in a threatening tone, "a caw him nuh know, him woulda haffi run like thief if him did lick down da man deh." The over 30 passengers, assured themselves that "waiting neva kill nobody yet," and decided to do just that.
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