Taxi driver behaviour

meanmachine3

just wondering how safe people really feel when dealing with taxi drivers. i'm posting this for a number of reasons.
firstly .
I had to unfortunate pleasure of having a run in with a taxi driver yesterday.i was in a bus lane stopped at traffic lights. this bus lane is in the middle of the road ( quite clearly marked).the lane to my left is left turn only( again quite clearly marked). I went straight and when i got across the other side of the lights i started to move into the left lane, all of sudden a taxi came tearing up on my left. Luckily i just missed him. i flashed him and blew the horn. He jammed on the brakes, jumped out and started abusing me. I told him he came straight up a left turn only lane. to cut a long story short ,there was no give with this guy .As far as he was concerned he was right. this seems to be a common thing where taxi drivers play chicken with other motorists. If we had collided his car would've been a right mess and god knows what would've happend if he had passengers not to mention the bus load of passengers already on my bus.
secondly.
In yesterdays star newspaper page 10 you have tommy gorman warning no room for new taxi drivers, but what concerned me was this.
"According to mr. gorman ,on thursday night there were two incidents of taxi drivers fighting amongst each other in dublin".
Just wondering have there been many posters/readers in a taxi where they felt unsafe due to driver behaviour and how common is it for the travelling public to be in these situations where a taxi drivers puts the passengers safety at risk.
Of course we'll get the usual guys on saying it never happens.

markpb

Westmoreland St onto O'Connell bridge by any chance?

Try being a cyclist and dealing with those goons all the time. It might not be fair to say all taxi drivers are bad drivers but it's reasonably, in my experience, to say most bad of the bad drivers in Dublin are taxi drivers.

dsane1

i have to agree with the op here but i also notice a decline in the standard of some db drivers driving too in recent years .I will acknowledge they do a difficult job though .

Ham'nd'egger

meanmachine3 wrote: »

just wondering how safe people really feel when dealing with taxi drivers. i'm posting this for a number of reasons.
firstly .
I had to unfortunate pleasure of having a run in with a taxi driver yesterday.i was in a bus lane stopped at traffic lights. this bus lane is in the middle of the road ( quite clearly marked).the lane to my left is left turn only( again quite clearly marked). I went straight and when i got across the other side of the lights i started to move into the left lane, all of sudden a taxi came tearing up on my left. Luckily i just missed him. i flashed him and blew the horn. He jammed on the brakes, jumped out and started abusing me. I told him he came straight up a left turn only lane. to cut a long story short ,there was no give with this guy .As far as he was concerned he was right. this seems to be a common thing where taxi drivers play chicken with other motorists. If we had collided his car would've been a right mess and god knows what would've happend if he had passengers not to mention the bus load of passengers already on my bus.
secondly.
In yesterdays star newspaper page 10 you have tommy gorman warning no room for new taxi drivers, but what concerned me was this.
"According to mr. gorman ,on thursday night there were two incidents of taxi drivers fighting amongst each other in dublin".
Just wondering have there been many posters/readers in a taxi where they felt unsafe due to driver behaviour and how common is it for the travelling public to be in these situations where a taxi drivers puts the passengers safety at risk.
Of course we'll get the usual guys on saying it never happens.

Mean, I have an good idea where it was and if I am right (In Dublin's northside, I take it), it is a newish road layout and a lot of cars are getting caught out by it. Not that it justifies what happened, I am sorry to hear about it.

One wonders if it more so indicative of our motorists as a whole than our taxi drivers with regards to the amount of poor drivers and risks taken on our road. Surely common sense should tell anybody that as a motorist, you should not leave your vehicle for any reason while in traffic. I agree wholeheartedly that many taxi drivers are not well skilled when it comes to driving; as you know, it takes a certain skill to drive in city centre Dublin at times. As it stands, all one needs is a B license, with no extra road skills needed and I'd say some would have come away with the amnesty from the 80's.

Spook_ie

meanmachine3 wrote: »

just wondering how safe people really feel when dealing with taxi drivers. i'm posting this for a number of reasons.
firstly .
I had to unfortunate pleasure of having a run in with a taxi driver yesterday.i was in a bus lane stopped at traffic lights. this bus lane is in the middle of the road ( quite clearly marked).the lane to my left is left turn only( again quite clearly marked). I went straight and when i got across the other side of the lights i started to move into the left lane, all of sudden a taxi came tearing up on my left. Luckily i just missed him. i flashed him and blew the horn. He jammed on the brakes, jumped out and started abusing me. I told him he came straight up a left turn only lane. to cut a long story short ,there was no give with this guy .As far as he was concerned he was right. this seems to be a common thing where taxi drivers play chicken with other motorists. If we had collided his car would've been a right mess and god knows what would've happend if he had passengers not to mention the bus load of passengers already on my bus.
secondly.
In yesterdays star newspaper page 10 you have tommy gorman warning no room for new taxi drivers, but what concerned me was this.
"According to mr. gorman ,on thursday night there were two incidents of taxi drivers fighting amongst each other in dublin".
Just wondering have there been many posters/readers in a taxi where they felt unsafe due to driver behaviour and how common is it for the travelling public to be in these situations where a taxi drivers puts the passengers safety at risk.
Of course we'll get the usual guys on saying it never happens.

You mean you let him get away with it..... shame on you, you should have creamed his car and let the Gardai deal with it. One less competitor against me on the roads.
As for the Star, you'd better believe it, I was coming into Leeson St last night, guy in the extreme right hand lane. pulls up beside me, sees a punter on LHS of road, jumps the red light and pulls across two lanes of taxis ( me and the guy on my left ) just to get the fare...... you ain't seen nothing yet....

meanmachine3

spookie your right i would've got away with it with the guards and i would've been 100% in the right, but things are done differently in D.B. theres all the paper work, then the accident investigation team, all the passengers put out and delayed by this, my ass hauled into the managers office and being given a roasting for not letting him through in the first place, because it would've an avoidable accident as this one was.
Dsane i do agree with you there has been a decline with some of my colleagues, i cant argue with you on that.
No offence to the taxi drivers that post here, but we've only a cetain amount of time to do a run into or out of town, where as taxi drivers are not restricted to how long it takes. if that accident had occurred the passengers i was supposed to pick up going out of town would've been waiting nearly 60mins instead of 30 mins.

meathstevie

This is a pointless discussion :

- what about cyclist and pedestrians treating traffic lights as if they weren't there. Or even playing matador with oncoming cars.

- what about Dublin Bus treating the quays, D'Olier Street and Westmoreland Street as their private car park ?

- what about bus drivers pulling out of bus stops not giving a fiddlers about traffic behind them ?

Just to say that there's good and bad on both sides. Just mind your own driving standards as I try to mind mine and hope for a bit of good luck if the taxi driver or the bus driver happens to be a muppet which most of either aren't.

corktina

i take it OP is a bus driver.....wondered for a while why he was in a bus lane....

i suggest you go to Paris or Rome or India or any of 100 other places and compare driving standards...even though Irish standards are truly dreadful, they are quite mannerly by comparision

meanmachine3

meathsteve thats all well and fine in what you said. my main concern is getting passengers from A to B safely, now when u have someone that treats the road as if they own it ,has no regard for other road users and puts the welfare of both my passengers and their own passengers at risk playing russian roulette then it becomes my concern.
would your tone be different if the bus i was driving ended up in a river,garage forecourt or worse
i dont use taxi's and hopefully i wont ever have to, but i'm sure alot of people posting here do and have been in situations similar to the one i described and have probably **** themselves and am trying to get their views.
also when you have a taxi union saying there were 2 seperate incidents of taxi drivers fighting one another on a thursday night,
and this from one of our posting taxi drivers.
"I was coming into Leeson St last night, guy in the extreme right hand lane. pulls up beside me, sees a punter on LHS of road, jumps the red light and pulls across two lanes of taxis ( me and the guy on my left ) just to get the fare...... you ain't seen nothing yet...."
it makes you start to wonder who the regulator is giving licenses to and what qualifications they have.
also when i mentioned that he went straight in a left hand turn only lane, this is a regular occurance.
your points about the quays being used as a carpark and the point of drivers pulling out of bus stops can i'm surely be raised in another thread to which i'd be more than happy to reply to.
i know if i had a fight with one of my colleagues whilst on duty i'd be out on my ear without a job soon enough. and i'n sure the same can be said for most of the people working in this country.

meathstevie

Sorry meanmachine but the points I raised about Dublin Bus can't be treated in a different discussion since you went out of your way to try and tar ALL taxi drivers with the same brush. I'm driving a taxi ( full time ) for the last six years without any complaints against me, no accidents and only one minor speeding ticket ( no passengers on board coming back from Celbridge to town last spring ) so I think I'm quite entitled to counter your argument.


As a little side line :
Who picks up the pieces when those infallible demi-gods in Dublin Bus go on strike over where they'll have to park for their morning coffee ? Lemme think,...eh could it be taxis ? Oh yes of course I forgot, I did dare to make a living - evil me - while I was bringing those people stranded on the North Road to work in town while the Supreme Soviet at Harristown was debating the size of the disposable cups and spoons while gathered around the fire... .

Oh, by the way, when is Dublin Bus going to start to accept legal tender and give proper change instead of a scrappy IOU the size of a Rizla skin ?

Spook_ie

meathstevie wrote: »

Sorry meanmachine but the points I raised about Dublin Bus can't be treated in a different discussion since you went out of your way to try and tar ALL taxi drivers with the same brush. I'm driving a taxi ( full time ) for the last six years without any complaints against me, no accidents and only one minor speeding ticket ( no passengers on board coming back from Celbridge to town last spring ) so I think I'm quite entitled to counter your argument.


As a little side line :
Who picks up the pieces when those infallible demi-gods in Dublin Bus go on strike over where they'll have to park for their morning coffee ? Lemme think,...eh could it be taxis ? Oh yes of course I forgot, I did dare to make a living - evil me - while I was bringing those people stranded on the North Road to work in town while the Supreme Soviet at Harristown was debating the size of the disposable cups and spoons while gathered around the fire... .

Oh, by the way, when is Dublin Bus going to start to accept legal tender and give proper change instead of a scrappy IOU the size of a Rizla skin ?

Now there's a thought Stevie, maybe we should start giving IOU's instead of change!!!

DWCommuter

So meathstevie comes on here spouting crap about the OPs pointless argument and then goes on a diatribe against Dublin Bus. Ive an idea. Why don't we get all the "jocked up" taxi divers and DB drivers out onto the Curragh plains and let them at it Braveheart style? Smashing heads in with ticket machines and taxi metres. Impailing people with taxi signs. Or maybe boring the ass of us all with your hang ups about each other.

Cop the **** onto yourselves and debate the issue without resorting to school yard pettiness, particularly you Stevie.

As for my input, well Im in Dublin 5 days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day behind the wheel and have done that for nearly 4 years solid. I'd agree that some Taxi drivers are more aggressive than most motorists when it comes to a traffic altercation. Ive never had any abuse (bar flashing lights and a beep of the horn) from a DB driver. But Ive had many an unnecessary run in with a taxi driver over very minor issues. Personally I don't bother taking the number and reporting it as that won't stop them being an arsehole.

Now, does my opinion here, mean that I am tarring all taxi drivers with the same brush or is that just the opinion of someone with a serious complex about their job???????

I know Ham n Egger is a taxi driver and I note that his input was more balanced. If we had more of that around here, then perhaps posters wouldn't be so set in their opinions of taxi drivers in general.

Wishbone Ash

meanmachine3 wrote: »

"According to mr. gorman ,on thursday night there were two incidents of taxi drivers fighting amongst each other in dublin".

Fist fights among taxi drivers used to occur occasionally at the rear of the queue in Dublin Airport. They used to happen late at night and were usually about drivers accusing others of by-passing the 'kesh'.

I'm not sure if it still goes on as I don't be there much now.

Ham'nd'egger

DWCommuter wrote: »

I know Ham n Egger is a taxi driver and I note that his input was more balanced. If we had more of that around here, then perhaps posters wouldn't be so set in their opinions of taxi drivers in general.

Reason being is that I have a lot of respect for bus drivers and just how hard their vehicles are to move around city streets as it is, without having to allow for the poor and inconsiderate driving of many on our roads. They are very well skilled and they ought to be, given that they have such a big vehicle and as many souls to move at once. Bus drivers (And indeed truck drivers) are ever willing to let people out and to cede advantage to other drivers; taxi and car drivers less so.

Generally, it only loses one 5 seconds to let a bus out yet it may him minutes to get a scope to move forward. At the junction OP referred to, I got caught behind a bus for over 5 minutes recently trying to turn right. The reason? Car drivers who sat merrily in the crossed box oblivious to both road sense, road rules and common bloody sense. I could nip around and divert, the 122 wasn't as lucky.

In any case, my Dad gave me a very good piece of advice when driving on the road; never argue with a bus as you will never win that round.

Victor

meathstevie wrote: »

Just to say that there's good and bad on both sides.

You are right in this, however the rapid expansion of the taxi fleet has led to a drop in standards that everyone, expecially taxi drivers recognise.

HydeRoad

For my own tuppence' worth, I first started taxiing three years ago, when there were the 'high' numbers and the 'low' numbers, high babies and low babies you might call them!

Anyway, it was a very occasional occurence, that a 'low' numbered taxi would make a very deliberate attempt to run me off the road, barreling at me, squeezing up my inside, forcing me over the centre line under an oncoming bus, chasing me for a fare, that sort of thing. Now I've driven buses all over the UK and France, I've driven Paris city bus tours, I don't get intimidated behind the wheel. When driving buses in Dublin, too, I have encountered taxi drivers who can only be described as criminally insane. THANKFULLY, they are very few.

One of the great opportunities for the new regulator, if only they took interest in such things, would be to squeeze out this small, militant, anti-social, anti-everyone, anti-everything breed of old time taxi driver, who are so appalling in attitude, that they drag the taxi driving industry back to the nineteenth century.

Certainly there are bus drivers too, old time 'union' men, with the same dogged, belligerent attitude to customers, motorists, younger bus drivers, in fact anyone and everything. I worked in Dublin Bus one time, too, and these types, again an unfortunate minority, made me SICK. Dublin Bus seem powerless to sack them, and the carriage office and the taxi regulator seem powerless to weed out obnoxious taxi drivers.

So the posts on boards.ie, and the angry letters to the papers, will continue...

PRND

To be honest, I have never witnessed much wrong with Dublin Bus driving. Part of being a sensible road user is to know that buses pull out after stopping but they always indicate well. In most cases, a stationary bus takes up a lane and moves off, all the while without much lateral movement.

As for the clogging up of the quays, is that not what they are supposed to do? I don't think drivers decide randomly to park there without having been cleared to do so by Dublin Bus, Dublin City Council etc.

AlekSmart

The issues of Buses "Clogging up the Quays" is a direct throwback to the decisions taken on what at the time appeared to be a whim by former Taoiseach CJ Haughey.

The decision to instruct the board of CIE to cease and desist its large scale development plans for both sides of the Liffey came suddenly and it seems in a late night telephone call from the Secretary to the Taoiseach to the then Secretary of the CIE board.

Whilst the decision did indeed pave the way for what we now enjoy in terms of our City`s "Cultural Quarter" it also left Dublin totally bereft on ANY form of integration or basic Public Transport facilities.

That single STOP order ensured that the so called Abandonment of Buses on City streets would be a conversation point well into the 21st Century.

The problem with CJ`s decision was not it`s content or timing but it`s total lack of any alternative being offered or recommended to CIE for it`s well intentioned plans to centralize ALL bus/tram based Central City routings.

From that date on CIE had effectively to make-do with whatever kerbside space was provided by a dubious City Administration and this continues to be the situation today......aah the benefits of Absolute Power......far exceed those of mere Power alone....:D

meanmachine3

meathstevie i have two questions for you
(1) if i had rear ended that taxi who do you think would've been in the wrong?
and
(2) would your attitude be different if someone else had started this thread instead of a bus driver?

meathstevie

Meanmachine, to answer your questions :

1) Quite unfortunately so you would have been deemed to be at fault if you went up the backside of any vehicle.

2) No, to be honest with you I take my occupation very serious. It's supposed to provide me a living ( more or less, and a lot more less than more the last while ) and I put a hell of a lot of effort in trying to drive to the best of my ability and to put a safe and well maintained comfortable vehicle on the road.

Coming from this angle I find it very hurting for a fellow professional driver, be it a bus driver or a lorry driver or whatever, to come out with what in my view was an attempt at generalisations about taxi drivers while the particular issue was with one incompetent individual who nearly caused a crash and went looking for a row after.

As Victor and HydeRoad have referred to dropping standards they're absolutely right. Problem is that the chap or girl who takes their occupation serious has to compete with that sort of character. I can tell you stories I've seen with my own eyes. Drivers sleeping in their car on the Gresham rank, waking up and taking a fare half comatose. Flying down Drumcondra at about 80 to 100 km/h just to be in town that bit quicker...etc. Someone referred to the fact that the Taxi Regulator's office should weed out these characters and that Dublin Bus should sack some dodgy characters well : the sooner the better.

meanmachine3

thanks for answering my number 1 question. thats what i was hoping you'd say. so this driver pulls right in front of the bus and jams on and he still expects me to stop in time. this is all too common in my job.
there is something called breaking distance just in case you didn't know .i do understand there are some good taxi drivers out there but as i've said alot play russian roulette thinking they can just pull in front of a bus and if the bus rear ends it, thats tough on the bus driver, little realising a camera speaks a thousand words.
i raised this issue because of one particular day, this happens daily, and it's mainly at turns only that this happens. we all take short cuts but at the same time some of us ( both bus and taxi drivers)are careful that we dont put our passengers at risk.
and thats why i posted. if we had collided
you would've had alot of ambulances on the street. i would honestly say he was in a rush to get into town for a fare using the bus lane.
this post was aimed at people who use taxi's to get their views and to see how common russian roulette is out there.

meanmachine3

Has anyone ever felt unsafe travelling on D.B. due to bad/poor driving and if so why?

BigglesMcGee

Ive often felt like is was going to be killed in a taxi. My god, some taxi drivers think they can drive how they like. I had one cutting up people all over the road and at the same time telling me how driving standards have fallen in Ireland. Ive had taxi drivers fall asleep at the wheel or wake up when they are veering accross lanesand someone beeps at them. Then they shout abuse at the person who just woke them up.

All taxi drivers should have to pass a driving test EVERY year. Because they carry so much responsibility for passengers safety, this should be a priority.

Spook_ie

BigglesMcGee wrote: »

Ive often felt like is was going to be killed in a taxi. My god, some taxi drivers think they can drive how they like. I had one cutting up people all over the road and at the same time telling me how driving standards have fallen in Ireland. Ive had taxi drivers fall asleep at the wheel or wake up when they are veering accross lanesand someone beeps at them. Then they shout abuse at the person who just woke them up.

All taxi drivers should have to pass a driving test EVERY year. Because they carry so much responsibility for passengers safety, this should be a priority.

Not much point in having a test every year when the chances of being checked by the Taxi Regulator or Gardai is about zero!! Better still would be for the travelling public to enforce it, Get the driver to stop, pay him, get a reciept, report him, go home safely....

You know it makes sense...............

meathstevie

BigglesMcGee and Spook_ie. You've hit the nail so hard on the head that it's gone right through the wood.

We've seen al sorts of fancy brochures and time consuming consultation rounds from the regulator's office but the one and only issue that's really important and should have been tackled from the start is driver/operator standards. Suffise to say that these still date from the Stone Age.

In the meantime a hardcore minority is up to all sorts of stupidity and reckless carry on happens while the majority of up to scratch drivers can only watch and see the whole set up fall to bits. I for one am convinced that if everyone in here who has had bad experiences with taxidrivers, be it Meanmachine with his bus or BigglesMcGee with sleeping beauty, would be able to collate the relevant details we'd see the same cars and drivers popping up again and again.

If you could only be a fly on the wall at any rank or at the airport you'd hear that it's always the same "drivers" who have the crashes, have run in's with customers or land themselves the wrong side of the cops.

I would love for someone in the Carriage Office of old or from the regulators office to be able to disclose the frequency of serious complaints against the same individual drivers.

On a little sidenote : if anyone asks me about what bus to get to the airport let's say on a Saturdaynight in town when they're flying back on Monday I'll always refer them to DB if I can't talk them into getting a taxi. This is purely based on what I see and experience on the road. Compared to some of their private competitors on whose buses I'll never set foot even if they were the last form of motorised transport in Ireland Dublin Bus is miles ahead.

MOH

meanmachine3 wrote: »

Has anyone ever felt unsafe travelling on D.B. due to bad/poor driving and if so why?

Yes, generally due to going uncomfortably fast or running red lights. One trip in particular on a 45 to Blackrock where the guy ran two sets of red lights, one at the Jury's junction in Ballsbridge well after they'd gone red and was blasted out of it by cars which had already started to move on the green.
Turned on the news the next morning to hear that was the same eveninng passengers had been killed by a bus while waiting on the quays.

There's been other cases where drivers have failed to stop and let me off despite me having rung the bell and been standing in the aisle, because they've been too busy talking to mates. Made me wonder how much attention they were paying to what was going on outside the bus.

the boss of me

firstly .
I had to unfortunate pleasure of having a run in with a taxi driver yesterday.i was in a bus lane stopped at traffic lights. this bus lane is in the middle of the road ( quite clearly marked).the lane to my left is left turn only( again quite clearly marked).

I think I know the junction you are talking about Mean machine, I reckon it's the one at Granby Row ?

Could you please clarify the exact location as it's unfair to judge what happened without specific details..

meanmachine3

it was at the quill pub on the quays heading into town, i was working one of the 90 routes when this happened.

parsi

Hamndegger wrote: »

In any case, my Dad gave me a very good piece of advice when driving on the road; never argue with a bus as you will never win that round.

Hmm... I say something similar to my barber - don't argue with the man that has the scissors.

Taxi driver behaviour is easy to spot because they have a taxi sign. If we all had to have a sign on our cars specifying our occupation then we might have extensive threads about pharmacists driving skills or street sweepers driving or - God forbid - IT heads...

However that being said - as a profession that is clearly identified and a profession that by its very nature spends a lot of time on the roads it should be better scrutinised in terms of driving ability. This ability test doesn't have to be so difficult as to be restrictive (we need plenty of competition in the taxi arena) but should be of a standard that Joe Public can feel safe in entering a Taxi.

Spook_ie

parsi wrote: »

Hmm... I say something similar to my barber - don't argue with the man that has the scissors.

Taxi driver behaviour is easy to spot because they have a taxi sign. If we all had to have a sign on our cars specifying our occupation then we might have extensive threads about pharmacists driving skills or street sweepers driving or - God forbid - IT heads...

However that being said - as a profession that is clearly identified and a profession that by its very nature spends a lot of time on the roads it should be better scrutinised in terms of driving ability. This ability test doesn't have to be so difficult as to be restrictive (we need plenty of competition in the taxi arena) but should be of a standard that Joe Public can feel safe in entering a Taxi.

Actualy when you consider that a taxi driver has to have one eye on the road and one eye looking for the next fare then it should be very restrictive. A lot of newer taxi drivers just haven't mastered the two skills together, in fact judging by some of the standards I would say that some haven't mastered the first one at all....

Ham'nd'egger

Spook_ie wrote: »

Actualy when you consider that a taxi driver has to have one eye on the road and one eye looking for the next fare then it should be very restrictive. A lot of newer taxi drivers just haven't mastered the two skills together, in fact judging by some of the standards I would say that some haven't mastered the first one at all....

Or the second It must be said, the concept of pull over safely, hazards on and open the doors has left both drivers and potential hailing fares, which given the dog eat dog nature, isn't too shocking. A few of the more bizarre and unsafe spots I have seen fares being taken recently by drivers...

Last night on the LUAS line and yellow box at Harcourt Street. Whilst moving!
On a roundabout (Clare Hall).
Rathmines/Portabello canal bridge, blind side with green light. Ditto Crumlin and Harold's Cross Bridge.
Baggot Street Upper outside lane with traffic flowing in rush hour. Punter had a suitcase.

I have yet to see a punter on the M 50 but I'm sure it has happened:cool:

PRND

I am not sure it as bad as you are making out. One thing about taxis is that they need to stop to lift fares and other road users should be aware of that and give them space to do so. Similarly as you would not expect an Ambulane to always behave rationally.

markpb

PRND wrote: »

I am not sure it as bad as you are making out. One thing about taxis is that they need to stop to lift fares and other road users should be aware of that and give them space to do so. Similarly as you would not expect an Ambulane to always behave rationally.

I can't believe you just compared taxi driving to ambulance driving I get the point you're trying to make but still... one is about life and death and the other probably shouldn't.

LA has restrictive taxi rules such as no picking up or dropping off in bus lanes, red zones, near junctions, etc. Basically stopping anywhere that could cause a traffic obstruction is a no-no and it's rigorously enforced. I don't think Dublin should go as far as LA but a compromise could be found where taxi drivers or their passengers don't expect taxis to lurch to an unexpected stop in the middle of moving traffic causing danger to cyclists, pedestrians and cars directly behind. For example, London designates busy bus stops and bus lanes with blue lines instead of yellow prohibiting taxis from stopping there.

AlekSmart

I would beg to differ with PRND on this one.
I believe the issue IS as bad as being made-out...I would contend it`s worse....much worse.

As somebody who deals with the cut n thrust of City Driving and gets paid for it I am realistic enough to expect a requirement to compromise on many fronts and I am always willing to do my best on that score.

Dublin Busdrivers,for example,are required to operate a fare/stage system firmly entrenched in the era of TWO Person operation on a horse-drawn tram when the Conductor dealt with Cash Transactions and the Driver.....well...he....DROVE.....kinda wild concept that innit...??? :rolleyes:

Just take a good look at O Connell St any normal day and observe the vast amount of time which our Buses spend immobile whilst their drivers attend to a multiplicity of meeting n greeting duties which in the main are unnecessary and which impose serious delay on those who DO take a little bit of responsibility for their commute by going for pre-paid cards.

So we`re all involved in this mad ballet of pretending to operate a modern system when we actually are forced to cling resolutely to the relics of oul God`s time. :mad:

However...it is forced upon ALL roadusers in Dublin consequent upon a City Administration which flatly refuses to prioritize Safety if that conflicts with Revenue generation,particularly from Pay and Display Parking.

The current highly volatile Taxidriving situation means that individual Drivers are often on a knife-edge as they operate,especially if as has been described here before,they have just spent 3 hours cruising for no return and suddenly a hand waves from the footpath....:eek:

All of this is grist to the daily mill but what I find most difficult to deal with is the high probability of a Taxi having just embarked a passenger,making an IMMEDIATE and high speed U-Turn....watch and document this occurrence as it constitutes probably the single greatest threat to public safety from a Taxi...

PRND

Well I was just thinking of a vehicle that would stop where it might not be expected to. A bin lorry instead perhaps?

I think restricting where taxis stop would cause even more problems and would, in effect, create a load of mini ranks in those areas allowed.

The driver himself has to make a call on where is safe and if his actions cause an accident then he will be subject to the law.

MOH

Was in a taxi a few weeks ago crossing O'Connell bridge to turn right onto Eden quay. Taxi in front stopped in the middle of making the right turn to pick up a fare. don't know how my guy avoided rear-ending him.

AlekSmart

As PRND sez,many classes of vehicle do stop unexpectedly to facilitate their operations....The one`s I`m familiar with are Gas "sniffers" and DCC Waterworks vehicles.

However,most of these carry signage warning other road users of the danger...as in.

"THIS VEHICLE MAY STOP UNEXPECTEDLY TO FACILITATE THE REMOVAL OF ILLEGALLY PARKED VEHICLES"

Perhaps the Taxi Regulator could insist on a similar inset on the Taxi roof sign ??

I`m sure this thread will provide many varieties of suggested script which could be used............

Spook_ie

AlekSmart wrote: »

As PRND sez,many classes of vehicle do stop unexpectedly to facilitate their operations....The one`s I`m familiar with are Gas "sniffers" and DCC Waterworks vehicles.

However,most of these carry signage warning other road users of the danger...as in.

"THIS VEHICLE MAY STOP UNEXPECTEDLY TO FACILITATE THE REMOVAL OF ILLEGALLY PARKED VEHICLES"

Perhaps the Taxi Regulator could insist on a similar inset on the Taxi roof sign ??

I`m sure this thread will provide many varieties of suggested script which could be used............

Surely if the vehicle has a taxi plate on it , you should be aware that it may stop suddenly, passengers may open doors without looking and people will cross the road in front of you without looking. These are fairly basic observational skills, that a good driver would have anyway..

tbh

professional drivers [vans, lorries, taxis, busses, etc) in Ireland, working for Irish companies should:

1. Be the holders of a current, valid, full Irish License.

2. Be driving an Irish-registered RHD vehicle

3. Take a driving test every 4 years.

If I ever become the boss of this country, that's the first rule I'm bringing in.

HydeRoad

Er, why not subject EVERYONE to a test every four years? I know the infrastructure is not there to cater for it right now, but surely it would be a good ideal to work towards? Should driving licenses be handed out like confetti to everyone as a matter of right? Many people somehow pass the one and only test they will ever do in their lifetime, and then continue ever after to drive in a manner that shows little relation to ever having had a moment's education...

AlekSmart

I was thinking more in terms of a Driver operated switch which would flash a message thru the roof-sign along the lines of "HEY WATCHOUT !! I`M HANGIN A HUEY"...on the front and of course an Irish Translation on the back.....?

Victor

tbh wrote: »

professional drivers [vans, lorries, taxis, busses, etc) in Ireland, working for Irish companies should:
1. Be the holders of a current, valid, full Irish License.
2. Be driving an Irish-registered RHD vehicle
3. Take a driving test every 4 years.
If I ever become the boss of this country, that's the first rule I'm bringing in.

Professional drivers will have to do Driver Certificate of Professional Competence, however, it is expected taxi drivers will be exempt, with possibly some similar scheme run by the taxi regulator.

AlekSmart wrote: »

I was thinking more in terms of a Driver operated switch which would flash a message thru the roof-sign along the lines of "HEY WATCHOUT !! I`M HANGIN A HUEY"...on the front and of course an Irish Translation on the back.....?

No way ...... would it be used.