Taxi Driver Online

Amazing isn't it how some drivers never sit still.

At one stage they are PH. Hating having to work to rules and regulations.

Next they are hack's.

Then they go back to PH. Singing the praises of the latest circuit.

Low and behold after a quiet August they jump ships back to Hack.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

The grass is always greener Tom!!

Dusty

ey tom its difficult problem, but I find that if you collect the radio rent on time every week it cuts down the problem when they are allowed to fall behind..........................


Wharfie

You have it in a nut shell Tom. They inhabit areas that have wishy washy licensing niether fish nor fowl they are. Then they try to preach that this is the model for the rest of the country.

They can't do this in London and that is what irks them so much. That is why they would like to see the London system fall. Simple. It won't happen so they will still be left to their wishy washy lowly paroachial status carrying about the fat old drunken slag market.

Claude

Quite right Maurice, there was never any need for a two-tier 'taxi' system, whether in London or the Provinces.

Dusty

Maurice, I doubt anyone is doing more damage to the London Cab Trade, than elements of the London Cab Trade.

Far too many Chiefs, and far too many Indians who can't see the wood for the trees.

Blimey guv'nor, I'm starting to sound like you.

ive driven london cabs, saloon cabs, private hire and buses in my time.
and the biggest pains are the customers getting in the way of me making a living.
but by far the safest is the london cab. even if it is like driving a roller coaster.

For you maybe (but I dont think so) yeah no side impact bars, no side, front, or roof airbags and a lovely screen for the punter to go through when you crash. Dont forget probaly the worst brakes in the history of automobiles.

But as safety from being set about by a customer then yes it is!!

The goverment dont wish to address the problems with London style cabs the disabilty act is a prime example, my guess is the Cab hasnt come up to standards the DVLA wish, so lets just forget about it and hope it goes away.

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Dont confuse "The Knowledge" with "knowledge"

All the points you raise are accurate - the vehicle has got a lot of deficiencies as TfL acknowledge from the TRL Report - though the PCO passed these vehicles as being fit for the purpose without any of these recommendations existing on the current vehicles.

However, I think you will find that the safety record of London cabs is the equal of any in the world. In spite of the lack of many safety features on the vehicles their fatality and serious injury rate is very low, and I suspect a large proportion of this is down to the skill of the driver.

Laugh if you like, but what other explanations are there? London cab drivers, whatever others may think of them, have relatively few serious accidents. Before anyone considers a silly or prejudiced response, ask the Insurance Industry actuaries. They are the ones that assess the risks for the Insurance Industry based on the data of previous claims. So, it's not only the manufacturers of the vehicles that can claim the safety record, is it? I suspect these drivers would be safer than the average driver, regardless of the vehicle they drive. An emotional subject I know, but I believe this to be generally true.

Though we still want better vehicles.

Regards,

Cruisin' Cabby

Yes, I believe insurance rates are surprisingly low in the capital?

Of course, another factor is that insurance is normally for the vehicle rather than the driver - to that extent in many provincial areas the insurance must be higher because the cars are on the road more often and most have part-time drivers, who tend to have more accidents I think.

In my manor, for example, office cars are generally worked maybe 100 hours a week or so, and a typical scenario is one full-timer and two part-timers.

So even in the unlikely event that all provincial drivers were as accident-free as London drivers, then the insurance per vehicle would still be more expensive.

But I believe that cabbies generally have a lower accident rate than the average motorist???

Dusty

Dusty

I just wish my insurance costs followed our lower accident rate.

Alex

Surely the reason that London Cabs have such a good safety record is because they spend most of their time travelling at very slow speed or stopped in traffic. Even when they do get out on a motorway they only ever seem to drive at 45 mph.

Thats why they are safe. They dont go fast enough to have a serious accident.

(Not that I am saying thats a bad thing).

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Dusty, I think the situation is that Taxis have a higher accident rate per annum, but a lower accident rate when measured by mileage.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Absolutely Andy7, I can't quite remember the point I was trying to make but I think it was along the lines that insurance premiums were not necessarily indicative of the safety of the driver.

This was partly because in London, as I said, cars tend to be single driver therefore even if we were as safe as they were then our premiums would still tend to be higher, at least insofar as many provincial motors have several drivers.

Likewise, our insurance is higher than the public's, but many see this as indicative of worse driving, whereas even if the average cabby has more accidents then this can be explained by the several-fold higher mileage, an in fact we supposedly have fewer accidents per mile.

In any case, we can't compare SDP insurance with public hire, but the public sometimes like to

Dusty

That's a pretty ill-considered response, wink or not. If they all went that slow, the speed cameras would be obsolete and the police would be crying out for more money. I'll bet you didn't know that the new TX11s have been governed to 86 mph to stop cab drivers going too fast down Oxford St, Park Lane and round Hyde Park Corner.

Driving at such low speeds is the only way you can get your fuel consumption down (or should that be up) to 23 mpg and it makes sure you can stop if you have to. (Brakes aren't what they used to be!) Kamikaze cabbies are a thing of the past aren't they? Unless you live somewhere out of London where the accident rate is so bad it keeps the insurance people in clover with sky-high premiums.

Anyway, how often do you get into London to see us practicing our funeral car stuff?

As for Dusty's statement about cars? (I think he meant cabs - or it was a Freudian slip) being mainly single driver, this isn't quite accurate. There are many 'doubled' cabs and even 'trebled' cabs in the main London fleets and with the owner/driver partners.

In any event it isn't always high speed that causes the accidents as many are caused by drivers tailgating, lane changing and jumping lights in the traffic as they have only got 5 seconds to get home or to their office in the City. You know what our London Yuppies are like in their Golf GTI's, Mini Cooper S's, Porsches etc. Nutters on wheels. (Wheel nuts?). They just love to carve up cab drivers (and/or everybody else) or try anything just to overtake them (using footpaths included). You haven't lived until you've experienced all this and our Post Office van drivers, who we believe are trained on the Dodgems and Go-Kart tracks. All of these people don't need a Motorway to cause mayhem. Perhaps it's also those out of town drivers lost (trying to find Heathrow - or somewhere) and don't look where they are going properly!

London is such a lovely place ....... Even with a Sat-NAV people get lost.

Either way - the public are safe with us.

Regards,

Cruisin' Cabby[/quote]