A Second Chance

Around the end of July, a TTC driver was caught on film running a red light and swerving before nearly hitting a pedestrian.  The TTC fired this employee.  A few days later I saw a segment on CP24 where people were interviewed about whether or not the employee deserved a second chance.  Most people thought the TTC's reaction was too harsh and she did deserve a second chance.  Many thought a more fitting punishment would be to have her not drive for a period of time and have her be a token collector.

If I was asked by CP24, here's what I would have said ...

"Well, if we as a society give murderers, rapists, and pedophiles many chances to commit their crimes over and over again, we can surely forgive this lady for running a red light."

She didn't actually hit anyone so her only crime is running a red light.  Okay, I know, the police may charge her for running a red light but it was her employer that chose to fire her for being careless and potentially causing harm to a pedestrian.  But in the end there was no harm, so maybe the TTC could have said, "No harm - no foul".

Let's look at a comparable incident one week later.  A pickup truck driver crashed into the Burlington Skyway, causing lots of damage to the bridge.  Traffic was jammed, more so than usual, and the Skyway was shut down for the long weekend.  I would say this was a lot of harm - a serious foul.  In the end, it was determined that the driver had a high blood alcohol level.  I don't know if he lost his job, but he was charged with impaired driving and his license was suspended for 90 days.  In my opinion, the punishment for impaired driving should be a minimum of a 2-year suspension for a first offense.  For the 2nd offense, it should be a lifetime ban from driving.  When that happens, then we can talk about punishing this poor lady that ran the red light but caused no harm to anyone.

One final note - I believe the TTC fired her because the incident was caught on camera and they felt they needed to react that way or there would be a lot of public backlash.  If there was no video evidence, but her boss happened to see it, the incident would most likely have been swept under the rug.  Poor sacrificial lamb.

Big Oh