TTC drivers in crisis
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[span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder_article_NavWebPart_Article_ctl00___imgCaption__"]Subway driver Bryan Tollefson, at his Angus home, suffered from post-traumatic stress after seeing two suicides and an accidental death. Depression returned when a drunk assaulted him.[/span]
Nearly 200 TTC bus, streetcar and subway operators are suffering from severe stress usually associated with survivors of combat, natural disasters and rape. [/p]Their rate of post-traumatic stress disorder is about four times that of police officers who patrol Toronto streets, and the city's transit drivers report these problems more than any other workers in Ontario, according to provincial data.[/p]Drivers have suffered a wide range of abuse – shot at with an air rifle, punched in the eye, head-butted in the mouth, gashed with a broken beer bottle, to list just a few examples the [em]Star [/em]uncovered.[/p]Shawn Gilchrist, psychologically crippled by the disorder, missed nearly two years of work after four riders swarmed and dragged him to the bus floor, then kicked, punched and dislodged a molar.[/p]A driver got a gob of spit in the face and mouth, and spent weeks off work and ran through many tubes of toothpaste trying to erase the memory.[/p]Another driver, Michael, said he was driving along Kipling Ave. in 2005 when the headlights of an oncoming Jetta went out. The sedan crept closer, its passenger window going down. Seconds later, the window next to Michael's head had a hole in it and a spider web of cracks.[/p]"I saw this thing coming out of the sedan's window, and I'm still looking at it. All of sudden ... Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. I screamed at everyone: `Get down. We're taking fire.' I didn't know what to say," said Michael, his voice quickening and pitched with anger. "I thought: I'm not going to see my family again. This is it."He later learned he was shot at with an air rifle and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).[/p]"I couldn't sleep. I kept being paranoid. I didn't want to drive."[/p]
In a five-year period ending in 2005, at least 181 drivers claimed post-traumatic stress disorder, missing an average of 49 days of work, with some absent only days and others more than a year. The traumatized drivers missed a total of nearly 9,000 workdays. An additional 102 operators reported missing weeks or months of work because they were suffering anxiety, neurotic disorders and depression.[/p]The men and women on the front lines of the TTC, for the most part, take the job because they like sitting behind the wheel, chatting with the public and earning a steady paycheque.[/p]But some drivers say they have become easy targets for surly riders. They are demoralized, tentative around strangers and fearful.[/p]Subway operator Bryan Tollefson, who suffered from the disorder 10 years ago after seeing two suicides and an accidental death in the subway, says he has sunk back into depression after a drunk head-butted him in the mouth in 2006.[/p]TTC management, though, is making a big push to make life on the road and rails less stressful."I think we have an obligation to do something," said TTC chair Adam Giambrone. "This is unacceptable. We have to take this seriously. This is about respect and safety of our operators. They didn't sign up to be soldiers."
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