How to possibly address reckless driving of taxis

[MagicDude4Eva]

The full background here, but the TL;DR version:

Saw a picture of a branded taxi ("White Star" maize - Sasko / Pioneer Foods) going over an island into oncoming traffic to cut everyone off at Witkoppen, took picture, sent to Pioneer Foods as official complaint and they will now address.

Seeing that neither JMPD/SAPS is able to address the way taxis behave on the road (my impression is that Jozi has gotten completely out of hand over the last months - not sure how it is elsewhere), perhaps we need to pick out the sponsored taxis and then put pressure on the advertising companies.

The JMPD incident of this morning was rather sad - a poor lonely JMPD cop trying to pull over taxis, but while he managed to write out one ticket, another 10 drove past him doing the exact same thing as the first offender. He had that FML-look on his face and he certainly deserved a donut/coffee....

 

[icyrus]

The only way to reign them in is to crush the offending taxi after x many violations. Throw in a strict roadworthy and emissions test and 95% of them would be in the queue for crushing tomorrow.

Realistically though there is no solution. Incompetent governance has gotten South Africa in to this situation and there is no hope of that changing in any of our lifetimes.

 

[loc]

Good idea, but surely the company realized taxi's are not the best brand ambassador before slapping their slogans on it? If they were going to pull sponsorship from every bad driving taxi they would have never bothered doing it in the first place

 

[USZA]

This should get some of them.

Hell, if we can't get all of them, then we'll settle for some. If it will decrease the number of reckless taxis on the road, then I'm all for it.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Good idea, but surely the company realized taxi's are not the best brand ambassador before slapping their slogans on it? If they were going to pull sponsorship from every bad driving taxi they would have never bothered doing it in the first place

TBH, I should have thought of that a long time ago - during elections every party had taxis blastered with advertising. Taking photos during my commute is a lot easier - always in a complete standstill on Witkoppen, so I don't have to worry about spilling my cereals onto my laptop while catching up on the latest youtube clips.

 

[Archer]

TBH, I should have thought of that a long time ago - during elections every party had taxis blastered with advertising. Taking photos during my commute is a lot easier - always in a complete standstill on Witkoppen, so I don't have to worry about spilling my cereals onto my laptop while catching up on the latest youtube clips.

As long as you're not doing your makeup too

 

[Hemi300c]

How to possibly address reckless driving of taxis

Fire every single law officer in the country and make them reapply for their jobs. With a decent panel of recruiters we could end up having a decent police force with honesty and integrity as their main drivers whilst serving and protecting.

 

[pezulu]

Taxi drivers are a law unto themselves these days.
Unfortunately there is nobody brave enough to take them on.

 

[grim]

Reminds me of this:


Law enforcement needs to step up their game and actually enforce the law instead of just sitting on their fat asses with a camera. While I despise the way some taxis drive, it's not only them.

 

[FNfal]

Yes the taxis are out of control here in Durban to .
Unmarked cars like cape town has with cameras on them will help .
But i feel the will to prosecute taxi driver is not there .
In Durban the rules of the road do not apply to taxi drivers , red robots ,stopping on the freeway to drop passengers ,parking 3 cars abreast , one way streets ETC . they just don't care .

 

[loc]

Yes the taxis are out of control here in Durban to .
Unmarked cars like cape town has with cameras on them will help .
But i feel the will to prosecute taxi driver is not there .
In Durban the rules of the road do not apply to taxi drivers , red robots ,stopping on the freeway to drop passengers ,parking 3 cars abreast , one way streets ETC . they just don't care .

Yip it's really bad here. One road I travel daily is a 3 lane road. The far left lane has been turned into a taxi stop. I know better than to ever be in that lane. Sometimes they will take over the middle lane as well and start stopping there. So all other motorists are reduced to one lane

Few weeks ago there was a 7 taxi pileup there.Wonder why..

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Just thought to post a quick update (more detail and actual letter is here: http://www.naschenweng.info/2015/01/30/impressive-corporate-responsibility-pioneer-foods-sasko).

It turns out that Primedia manages the outdoor advertising for a large number of taxi association and in discussion with them, they have a code of conduct (although there seems to be no obvious ways to report this) and I made a few suggestions such as having dashboard cameras on branded taxis which can be periodically audited and having a more transparent way of reporting misconduct (or even good conduct) via a call-centre.

While this only works for branded/sponsored vehicles it is at least something each and everyone of us can do as part of being a responsible citizen.

 

[S1ght]

I wish there was more we could do :/

My last experience with them was on Friday. Was sitting to get off the highway at William Nicol. Naturally a couple of chancers and all the Taxis all come down the emergency lane to try skip the traffic. So sometimes when I'm brave enough I'll just pull half way into the lane to try and block them (ultimately useless but if I can make their day a bit more difficult then why not). Every taxi that then was forced to squeeze around me all flipped me off and spent a good bit yelling at me while they drove past.

I can understand that it must suck having to drive all day and they probably do get very irritable spending that much time in car. But I don't understand why more isn't done to either build a proper public transport, or enforce stricter laws on taxi drivers to show them that they aren't above the law.

 

[ahoudet]

I wish there was more we could do :/

My last experience with them was on Friday. Was sitting to get off the highway at William Nicol. Naturally a couple of chancers and all the Taxis all come down the emergency lane to try skip the traffic. So sometimes when I'm brave enough I'll just pull half way into the lane to try and block them (ultimately useless but if I can make their day a bit more difficult then why not). Every taxi that then was forced to squeeze around me all flipped me off and spent a good bit yelling at me while they drove past.

I can understand that it must suck having to drive all day and they probably do get very irritable spending that much time in car. But I don't understand why more isn't done to either build a proper public transport, or enforce stricter laws on taxi drivers to show them that they aren't above the law.

They chose the job, they should be able to deal with it. If they can't, they must quit!

 

[Foxhound5366]

Every single morning, taxis driving along the N2 in Cape Town nearly kill me - driving 120km/h in an 80km/h zone and weaving from far-right to far-left.

This afternoon I happened upon a lone taxi tootling along the centre lane at 100km/h in a 120km/h zone, and revenge was mine ... I pulled that favourite taxi trick of zooming up at speed behind the taxi and then darting into another lane at the last possible instant.

Do I feel bad about that? Not a chance

 

[dlk001]

Best thing is to address reckless driving full stop. Problem is general lack of law enforcement towards motorists.

 

[Rowen1982]

I live in Douglasdale every morning taxis cause havoc every wants to get to work on time but we have to sit it out in the traffic.who the f*** made them God to push through traffic ride on pavements skipping robots randomly stopping where and when they want.but not one traffic cop around ever.william nicol is a nightmare with taxis.they will run u off the road if you don't give way.i did find a few guys in 4x4's go toe to with taxi's blocking and cutting them off good for these guys.time to give them some of there own medicine back.if you hate being in traffic find a new profession fxxker.

 

[maumau]

The sad thing is that other motorists are beginning to drive like the taxis. If they can get away with breaking the law why can't we type attitude?

Our domestic tells me the bribe for driving in the left lane on beyers in jhb has gone up from R50 to R100. She says it's due to inflation.

 

[rayven_king]

is it bad that I cut off every taxi I see

 

[bokdrol]

Nothing can be done. When I encounter them, I assume they are going to try to cut me off, slam on the brakes for no reason, overtake and then dawdle etc etc. I normally smile and let them in with a wave. They are often so astounded and grateful that it makes my day.