Coach Drivers Research Articles

Work stress among long‐distance coach drivers: A survey and correlational study

AbstractThis paper presents findings from an Australian survey of work conditions, coping behaviors and stress among 93 long‐distance coach drivers. A tripartite model of coach driver stress is presented. The model proposes that the impacts of job demands (e.g. driving hours) on work‐related stress outcomes (e.g. doctor visits) are mediated by a set of maladaptive coping behaviors and responses (e.g. stimulant use, speeding). Correlational analyses of the survey data provided general support for the model. Results suggested that long driving hours provide the single best predictor of maladaptive behaviors such as stimulant use and sleep disturbance among the drivers. The maladaptive behaviors, in turn, consistently predicted stress outcomes such as doctor visits and symptom reports. Direct correlations between job demands and stress outcomes were also consistent with the model, but the correlations were of a lower magnitude. The data suggests that stimulant use and sleep disturbance may be important mediators in the link between job demands and stress outcomes for long‐distance coach drivers. Path modelling with larger samples is recommended for future research along the present lines. Implications for work practices within the long‐distance transport industry are briefly considered.

Medical aspects and driving history of drivers with higher class automobile driver's licenses

In the medical part of our paper we have shown the chauffeurs are a high-risk group with respect to hypertension, lumbar pain, and overweight. The analysis of drivers' offenses, yearly kilometers driven and years of driving in the three groups of taxi, lorry and coach drivers shows that coach chauffeurs have significantly better driving records.

Excavation of a Stone Circle at Croft Moraig, Perthshire, Scotland

The concentration of prehistoric monuments, broadly of the later third and early second millennium B.C., in the upper Tay valley, has been noted by more than one archaeologist in recent years (Stewart, 1958–9; Coles, J. M. and Simpson, 1965). The multiple stone circle to be described lies no more than 2 miles (3·2 km) from the north-eastern end of Loch Tay at Kenmore, and 4 miles (6·2 km) west of Aberfeldy, at Nat. Grid Ref. NN/797472 (fig. 1). It stands some 400 feet (122 m) above sea level, near and to the south of the main Aberfeldy–Kenmore road near the farm of Croft Moraig or Morag, and has long been known as a prehistoric monument: ‘Yon's the Druid Stones!’ shouted the coach drivers to their passengers sixty years ago, and only ‘the begoggled motorist’ of the day was thought likely to miss it (Coles, F.R., 1909–10, 139). Probably the earliest record of the site is that made by Robert Burns on his Highland journey in 1787 (quoted in Gillies, 1938, 14):‘Druid's Temple, three circles of stones. The outermost sunk, the second has thirteen stones remaining; the innermost eight, two large detached ones like a gate to the south-east—say prayers in it’.