Taxi drivers, do you ever think about how many hours they've worked

wack61

wack61

I've got an itchy hatch
Suspended / Banned
Messages
7,344
Edit My Images
No
I was just thinking about taxi drivers and the hours they work, I drive a commercial vehicle which has a tachograph fitted to monitor how many hours I work, it's the same size as a radio CD and works with a card similar to a photo driving licence with a chip in it.

Licenced taxis have to have a stringent MOT every 6 months to ensure the car is roadworthy to carry passengers but there's nothing to stop a driver being on the road for 22 hours getting a couple of hours kip in the back then starting another day

surely the most important part of the roadworthiness test is how alert the driver is, there have been a few cases of taxi drivers falling asleep at the wheel, the most recent one I can remember is when a minibus was on it's way to manchester airport at 4am, it crashed killing a family of 4 IIRC

So is it anything you ever think about, should taxis have tachographs in for our safety:shrug:
 
yes they should in my opinion , i very rarely use taxis to be honest , but as you say they should be regulated for hours as they are carrying people , its nothing to do with size or weight , as you have said it is easy to kill 4 or more in a minibus :(
 
whitewash said:
got a friend whos a black cabby, his taxi runs pretty much 24hrs a day. he regularly does whole nights on (8pm til 8am that sort of thing)
Click to expand...

yes , but 12 hours with proper rest is ok , i bet he dont do 12 hours solid driving , if he does then something is well wrong :eek:
 
Well the private hire vehicles ( as opposed to black cabs)
around here certainly are driven as the the operator ( I use that word deliberately) is asleep

They generally are frigging dangerous!
They have no manners or consideration for other road users
all other types of professional drivers are regulated as to hours
( ok the "light van boys" aren't)
BUT cab drivers are carrying passengers ( a mini PSV as it were) not freight
so I see no reason that they shouldn't be
 
Most drivers are responsible, and unlike most jobs you can rest while on the rank etc too and watch TV or something. I never work more than 10 hours, generally much less. Probably 30-40% of that is driving if that. It's like saying photographers are terrorists because some Muslim terrorist owned a DSLR. If you have concerns about a vehicle you can address your local council. Unlike a truck driver I may work half hour then go home and when the phone goes go out for another 10 minutes and then do a 6 hour shift later rather than a full solid shift. Most of us don't want to have an accident because if we do we don't feed our kids let alone the public safety. There is a minority in any trade sadly.
 
Last edited:
A colleague at work does mini cabbing on Friday and Saturday nights. He say's it's not unusual for some of the drivers to pop a few pills or whatever to get them through the nights.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top