Israeli Bus Drivers

December 5, 2001 7:00 AM

Most Dangerous Job.. Israeli bus driver. Not only at risk from normal driveing hazzards but being blown up by terrorists, a favorite target. Is there a memorial for the fallen comrades or do they "take care of their own" in a secret bus driver society. What other low profile low skill jobs go unrecognized for the ultimate sacrifice?
posted by stbalbach (11 comments total)

In the bus driver world Israeli drivers must be bad ass. The elite. Spoken of in hushed voices.
posted by stbalbach at 7:05 AM on December 5, 2001

being an ex-pizza driver in Flint mich, one learns to either have someone ride the literal shotgun or you go strapped. you learn how to take back ways and evade roving gangs in Chevy Caprices. The pizza driver-policeman killed ratio in our county is about 1:2. also wrecker drivers have a rather high mortality rate...but an Israeli busdriver? give these folks a medal and a raise. If i recall, early Jewish settlers used modified armoured buses to get them through the hostile zones. Seems to me the greatest weapon the driver could have is intuition and thats...
posted by clavdivs at 7:12 AM on December 5, 2001

Russian coal miners.
posted by dfowler at 7:20 AM on December 5, 2001

Saw a program on this on .... Discover? Can't remember. I was surprised to find out that US Navy aircraft-carrier deck crews were not the most dangerous profession, statistically, even though they die on the job so frequently that it rarely makes the news unless it's in your small-town paper. The most dangerous job they mentioned on the show was Alaskan king-crab fisherman.
posted by alumshubby at 7:30 AM on December 5, 2001

I am not able to speak for Israeli bus drivers, but that country has close to a 10% unemployment rate and they seem not to employ illegal Mexicans.
posted by Postroad at 7:36 AM on December 5, 2001

There's an excellent documentary on Alaskan fisherman in the Bering Strait, Dutch Harbor: Where The Sea Breaks Its Back (available here) , with a great soundtrack by the Boxhead Ensemble (with Will Oldham, David Grubbs, Jim O'Rourke, Mick Turner, and more).
posted by skwm at 7:50 AM on December 5, 2001

Tech Support.
posted by Fofer at 8:47 AM on December 5, 2001

Fielding's Most Dangerous Jobs in America:
14. Firefighter
13. Roofer
12. Metal worker
11. Fisherman
10. Cashier
9. Timber cutter
8. Taxicab driver
7. Security guard
6. Airplane pilot
5. Police detective
4. Construction worker
3. Sales supervisor/proprietor
2. Farm worker
1. Truck driver

Source: U.S. Labor Department

Very interesting, surprising stuff.
posted by Witold at 10:16 AM on December 5, 2001

An excellent essay about Dangerous Jobs: "There are a number of ways to identify hazardous occupations. And depending on the method used, different occupations are identified as most hazardous...One method counts the number of job-related fatalities in a given occupation or other group of workers...The second method, fatality rates, takes into account the differing total numbers among occupations...Another method of expressing risk is an index of relative risk." Scroll down for a list of jobs by relative risk of fatality.
posted by Carol Anne at 11:05 AM on December 5, 2001

Israeli bus drivers are staunch, proud, and masters of their vehicles. An Eged bus driver is king of the road, yielding only to other Eged drivers and tanks. When they say "Move down the back", you better move.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:05 PM on December 5, 2001

as some random early-90's rapper once said, "you best roll strapped." and i guess driving busses in israel was no exception. i remember a couple years ago, going home from school on a metro bus, we had bottles thrown at us and i *think* we were shot at. i couldn't help but laugh while i was on the floor, as i heard our busdriver calling for "backup." i half expected several metro busses to screech into action, with dozens of kevlar-clad mp5-carrying bus drivers pouring out in standard swat stack-formation.
posted by lotsofno at 5:23 PM on December 5, 2001