Frightening

I picked up a fella last night, a professional racing driver in the Motorsport Series who had spent yesterday competing at Wakefield Park, Goulburn, NSW. I asked him, ‘How did you go, get a result ?’. ‘Yeah, we placed first in the Production Series and seventh in the Formula Ford'. I was impressed he used the plural pronoun ‘we’ rather than ‘I’, thereby acknowledging a team effort.

Unfortunately it was only a short fare and I didn’t clarify what sort of vehicles he raced, though Google indicates open-wheelers. However he did mention the team sponsorship  focuses on promoting a packaged brand involving corporate activities. These included private instruction in advanced driving skills.

Whilst writing a fare receipt I jokingly asked, ‘So, do you think cab drivers could benefit from some advanced driver training ?’. ‘Advanced ? How about basic’, he suggested. ‘Listen, I don’t drive on the roads, I only use taxis and there’s only one word for that experience - frightening’.

This from a high speed racing driver ! In which case I guess he only sits in the front of taxis because they have a passenger airbag. Smart man.

Comments

[DaVo]

Hahaha! Although some taxi drivers can be dangerous on the roads, for the most part I think that they are pretty good drivers. They have had experience in most conditions ever imaginable many times over that the normal average driver would never experience in a lifetime.

Well, that's just my thoughts on things anyway...

[Gerry]

I've taken taxis in many of the capital cities in Australia, including Sydney. Generally, I've found the taxi drivers very competant. If one wants a frigtening experience take a taxi in Jakarta or Manila, where the drivers will tailgate the car in front, continuously honk and brake suddenly. Also, in these countries pedestrians at a crossing is a cause for speeding up!

[phil]

Tuks-tuks in Bangkok or Delhi are the best! Hang on and grin! Breathe in the fumes! We were involved in a minor accident in one in Lahore - wife and self could see what was about to happen but the driver blithely ploughed into a car. We got out, refused to pay for the small distance managed safely and hailed another one.

[Link]

Never take a Tuk tuk in Bangkok dressed in white, because you will no longer be dressed in white when you reach your destination.

I've only had one mad taxi driver and that was in Sydney, he drove like a complete maniac, declaring to the world at large out the window, shaking his fist angrily at some more restrained motorist, that he'd been up for 72 hours. I'm a brave passenger but this guy was a nut. He was clearly well into his third or fourth wind, or maybe it was his third or fourth line.

[lg]

I've never had a bad experience with a cabbie. Everyone I've been a passenger with has been a responsible driver. I don't have much call for cabs these days up here where I live, not like I would if I was in the city but I have only praise for those I've driven with. One of the most memorable cab trips I've had was in Singapore. Coming out of the 'Tanglin Club' after lunch one day, a tropical downpour hit. I said to my friend, let's go...we're going to get wet anyway so we headed off in the warm rain to our hotel, the Hyatt on Orchid Avenue. We'd just run down an embankment, both of us in high heels, when a cabbie stopped, beckoning us to get into his cab. This we did. He handed us both a towel to wipe the rain off and proceeded to tell us his name was 'Peter'. He showed us clippings from a newspaper wherein he had been voted, the previous year, as the most hospitable cabbie in Singapore. It was clear to my friend and I why this was so. He was a very pleasant fellow. He dropped us off at our hotel, which really wasn't that far from where he'd picked us up and wouldn't accept a fare. We tipped him for his generosity and hospitality. I will never forget 'Peter'.