Two student BranVan employees were recently fired after being involved in three accidents that were caused by human negligence, according to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan. Callahan declined to provide details about the incidents or to provide the drivers' names.

The two students involved in the accidents declined to comment.

According to the Police Log, there was a report Oct. 24 that an escort van was involved in an accident on Main Street with no reported injuries. On Oct. 30 a mirror on a BranVan was struck while the van was off-campus. Last Friday, a party "notified University Police that his vehicle and BranVan #56 were involved in a minor [accident] on the corner of South Street and Angleside Road."

Callahan explained that termination of the two BranVan employees involved in recent accidents was necessary because negligence is an insurance concern. "These students are paid to be careful and transport students and members of the community, and if they're involved in an accident and we continue to let them drive and they're involved in an accident again and someone gets hurt, it's a major liability issue."

"The whole premise of the system is the safe operation and the safe transport of the community members," Callahan said. "Even one accident is unacceptable."

The chances for those drivers to return to employment are "slim," he stated. "Once you're in an accident [involving negligence], you're terminated, and that's it," he said. Callahan explained that in this case, negligence can refer to drivers not looking in their mirrors or driving with excess speed.

The drivers "were not paying attention to what they were paid to do," Callahan said. He said he thought the termination process had been handled fairly. "It's a little different than other jobs on campus like filing or copying," he said. "People's lives are in these students' hands."

Student Head Coordinator for Escort Services David Devallon '09 declined to comment because he understood that a Justice reporter had already spoken with Callahan.

As a follow-up to the incidents, he said the student head coordinators will conduct training sessions with all employees to refresh safe driving policies and that e-mails were sent out to the drivers' listserv about speeding and about careful operation of vehicles.

Callahan said he believes the training system for drivers is adequate. He explained that Public Safety checks applicants' licenses to ensure that they don't have a history of accidents and to check if they have speeding tickets. A coordinator takes new drivers out in the van, he said. Each employee takes a defensive driving class, takes a written test, views an instructional video and also performs a practical test drive, he explained.

Callahan added that the department evaluates the training programs at other universities and continually updates the training program. The coordinators follow their drivers' progress and give them remedial training if necessary or have them repeat the defensive driving course, he said.

According to Callahan, the Escort Service uses a point system to track driver conduct. Callahan explained that drivers can get points for things like speeding and being late for a shift. "If you get five points you get fired."

Callahan said that Public Safety performs periodical spot checks on Crystal Shuttle and BranVan drivers by having students ride on the bus to ensure drivers are not speeding, talking on the cell phone, smoking or listening to the radio too loudly.

Senator for Charles River Quad Chenchao Lu '09 was hired as a driver for special events at the beginning of the semester and drove last Friday because emergency drivers were needed, he said. He said he had participated in Public Safety's course to drive the van for Volunteer Vacations two years ago.

"I think everyone is trained adequately," Lu said. "I know a lot of people may say that BranVan driving is dangerous and not safe to ride in," he said. "The fact that they're really long and tall vans makes the ride feel a lot more dangerous and uncomfortable than it actually is," he explained. "Even if you're going 20 miles an hour, you feel like you're going a lot faster, especially if you're making a turn," because the van tilts a lot.

Lu said he tries to limit the discomfort passengers feel as much as possible when he drives the BranVan, but that such an attempt is nearly impossible because of the van's large size. To try to limit it, "you have to drive really, really slowly, but that [would be] below the speed limit, and you'll have to basically cause traffic in Waltham if you drive like that, in my opinion," he said.