More cabbies attacked

Usually after fare disputes, faced with cheats or drunk passengers

Monday - August 4, 2008
Leong Wee Keat
weekeat@mediacorp.com.sg

CABBIES may say assaults against them are rare, but they are on the rise, according to the largest taxi operator here.

ComfortDelGro — which has 15,000 of the 24,000 taxis on the roads here — told Today that assaults against the company’s drivers have more than doubled from a year ago.

In the first seven months of the year, ComfortDelGro has seen 17 attacks against drivers, more than double the number for the whole of last year.

Could last December’s fare hikes have played a part in some of these passengers seeing red and venting their spleen against cabbies?

Most of the 15 cabbies Today spoke to did not think so, saying that most attacks could happen after fare disputes, when passengers try to cheat their way out of paying and when dealing with drunken passengers — :a perennial headache cabbies face.

While passengers might grumble about high fares, cabbies said most would get agitated if they got caught in a traffic jam, or felt that the cabbie was out to cheat them by taking a longer route.
The authorities have taken a tougher stance to deter crimes against cabbies.

Two weeks ago, the High Court sent out a stern message to attackers of public transport workers when a judge dismissed an attacker’s appeal and instead tripled his jail sentence from one month to three months. Under the law, the maximum punishment for common assault is two years’ jail and a $5,000 fine.

Fare cheats cases, too, are on the rise for some operators — in the case of ComfortDelGro, a monthly average of 134 cases this year, up from a monthly mean of 85 cases last year, said spokeswoman Tammy Tan.

Cabbie Ong Eng Seng was the victim of a violent passenger, who not only refused to pay a $16.60 fare but also punched him in the eye before fleeing.
The attack on Feb 7 left the 69-year-old driver with a swollen eye and blurred vision. He was unable to work for a week.

“If he didn’t have the money to pay, we could have negotiated. He didn’t have to resort to violence,” the CityCab driver told Today, recalling his shock at being attacked for the first time in his21 years as a cabbie.

First-time offenders can be fined up to $1,000 while repeat offenders can be fined $2,000 and jailed six months for cheating.

Unlike other countries, attacks against taxi drivers are just a blip on the crime radar here, but an alarming one nonetheless. For example, the number of reported taxi robberies has risen from 24 to 49 between 2006 and last year, according to the police.

Cabbies say a large proportion of crimes, including assaults, go unreported. Mr Ong called the police after the attack, butdecided not to pursue the matter. “It was too troublesome. Just my luck to have picked the wrong passenger,” he told :Today:.

CityCab driver Robert Leong believes in reasoning things out with passengers. “If the passenger insists that I have taken a longer route, I offer him a discount. Why argue? I would rather just move on and pick other passengers,” he said.

Cabbies in other countries, however, have opted not to face the wrath of unruly passengers on their own — relying on taxi drivers’ associations lobbying and working with the authorities to make their work safer.

In Australia, for example, two state governments have adopted a tougher stance on assaults on public transport workers. In February, the Northern Territory Government raised the maximum penalty for common assault on a bus or taxi driver from one to five years.

In the state of Victoria, a A$2.5-million ($3.2-million) safety strategy was launched last August, following the murder of a taxi driver. Trials of protective and dismountable screens to shield the driver from rear-seat passengers, and improved cameras inside the vehicles, are scheduled to start next year.

Here, taxi operators have dismissed the idea of installing such cameras, citing passengers’ privacy and costs.

What about protective screens — used in London cabs since the 1970s?

Smart Taxis’ general manager Niki Ong felt such screens may be aesthetically ugly. “We want our drivers to be approachable, interactive and provide a service to the passengers,” he added.

Companies here employ a distress alarm that uses the Global Positioning System technology to track the location of their taxis. The technology also allows the police to be notified.

Would a public education campaign help? An SBS Transit campaign has helped reduce assaults against its bus captains.

Today :understands that ComfortDelGro is looking at a similar public education campaign to deter assaults against cabbies.

Some cabbies are already taking their own deterrent — if unauthorised — measures, including keeping packets of chilli powder with them and not wearing seat belts for a quick getaway when trouble strikes.

Cabbies say they take the first step to defusing any potential unhappiness by asking the passenger his or her choice of route.

Most cabbies opt to stay cool despite being harangued. “No choice,” Mr Anthony Tan, a cabby for 20 years, said. “Your livelihood could be affected should the passenger complain against you.”

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