Op zoek naar veilig vervoer voor rolstoel gebruikers
As a long time interested (retired) researcher on transport of people with a handicap, I experience more and more the amount of real life circumstances that I cannot be aware of.
Read More »This contribution was published as an Opinion article in PV Magazine 6 on December 23, 2022,
see also PV magazine. The illustrations are from the film Crisis in het leerlingenvervoer
In the Covid period, contract transport has fallen sharply. Now there is a follow-up problem: a chronic shortage of drivers. Drivers have found other work or have stopped. There are companies that have managed to retain their drivers with arts and crafts, with lending and reducing working hours and other creative solutions.
A study by Ouders en Onderwijs (O&O) and tweets by Elijah Delsink of the student interest (LBVSO) shows that the shortage of drivers now causes student transport to run dramatically in a number of places. There are fewer fixed trips and regular drivers. Companies sometimes bring students to school in two shifts, causing students to arrive late to school. Or they are not picked up at all. Because parents take care of this, they miss working hours and this has consequences for their job! Important teaching hours, tests, are missed. That damages students. Good education is at risk.
Read More »18 December 2023 Roelof Veenbaas in Magazine Personenvervoer 6.23 p 16/17
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears” Nelson Mandela
The pupils transport crisis is a complex problem that tolerates single solutions badly. The characteristic of complex problems is that no one, including me, has a complete picture of the whole of reality. On the other hand, people (especially people around the workplace) are most aware of this complexity and often best equipped to deal with it. By identifying risks and trying to prevent calamities. That is, if they are given the space to do so! As Todd Conklin, Senior Organizational and Safety Culture Advisor, points out, “We need to keep talking about risk!”
This requires to look critically at one’s own role continuously, questioning the other openly about their image of reality and taking signals seriously. We can start doing that now by deepening the adage “A lot is going well!” What is going well where? What can we learn? Built on the work of giants like Conklin, that’s why I’m writing this opinion on the driver crisis in pupils transport to and from school.
What do we actually mean by Quality in the sector?
After starting my website with ideas about safe wheelchair transport, it is time to step aside to think about the future. How can I use my experience and knowledge to help those involved in transport? Is the branche, but much more important, are drivers and customers waiting for that?
How can safety in the wheelchair taxi sector be shaped differently, more from the experience of drivers, passengers and wheelchair manufacturers? Invest in what’s going well.
The following letter was sent to the authors of the Code VVR and parties involved in the transport and wheelchair provision. Because there are currently two Codes I use the term Code VVR (SFM) here. The code was published by Social Mobility Fund as secretariat on behalf of the Platform.
For me, safety and cooperation in the workplace are particularly important in the provision of wheelchairs and in transport.
One, because of the quotes, slightly longer blog:
In the field of target group transport and aids supply, a budget reduction spiral has been in place for years. If you think the bottom has been reached, it turns out it can still be lower. Meanwhile, far too late, the quay seems to be turning the ship around.
Read More »