Adelaide, again

Late yesterday afternoon a middle-aged fella climbed aboard in the City and requested Newtown. Surveying the gridlocked traffic he leant back in the seat and smugly stated, "This is why I moved out of Sydney - you don’t get this in Adelaide." Fair enough.

However the mention of Adelaide to a cabbie raises the topic of sexual assaults on taxi passengers in that city. From my daily reading of a world taxi news digest, it would appear that per capita, Adelaide currently leads other world cities in this statistic.

Over the last nine months there have been some 35 reports of sexual assaults on female passengers in Adelaide, with police investigating an additional 20 assaults prior to 2006. Despite the creation of a special police task force, reports of assaults continue.

This had led to the fitting of dashboard stickers in cabs bearing the taxi registration number. I mentioned to my passenger how it was puzzling the taxi networks could not locate the accused cabbies using a vehicles’ GPS. He responded, "That’s because many drivers disable their GPS and on-board cameras".

If true, what’s the point of installing mandatory security devices if they're not policed ? Who's regulating South Australia’s taxi industry ? The passenger confirmed Adelaide taxis were now considered a last-choice option by many women. They deserve better.

(Blog coverage)

Comments

[Ian]

Allow me to be the first to say welcome back; and about time ;-)

What about the rest you were going to have... surely blogging is sorta easier/less critical than doing the Newspoll articles?

Cheers,

[Lance]

And me, the second, "welcome back mate".
Sounds a bit like coming back in here will actually be your sabbatical. But I guess abreak is good no matter what ya do.
Good to see ya again mate.

[adrian]

Thanks Ian and Lance. Actually the Cabpolling was a useful exercise and quite beneficial, forcing me to take more care with the writing and creative process. I'm pretty happy with the result and now feel reinvigorated, once again enjoying the craft.

As for the postponed rest, that'll be next week's holiday, though I will be moblogging whilst travelling. After which regular blogging will resume. Cheers,

[AG Canberra]

Re the Adelaide cabbies - I believe the industry was de-regulated there a few years ago - with chaep plates and minimal regulation the norm.

Perhaps that's what you get when you take away the rules for providing safe and efficient transport....