Why Cabbies Talk on Their Phones

@murasaki

By: P Starling | Tue, 08/04/2009 - 21:34

Yeah, I actually love to chat with cabbies, but it seemed a little petty to me to object to their cell phone usage on the basis that I'm not being entertained myself. (After all, there is that little TV in back.) Somehow stylists always seem to ask about my love life, though. Can't we talk about theirs, instead? Puhleeze? If I'm getting a great new haircut, it usually means the whole love life thing is NOT going well.

So where is the Double X unofficial bar-and-hangout for the New Yorkers? We need to get together, maybe flex some political muscle. Or maybe just have old lady Cosmos.

@Starling

By: Murasaki | Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:40

Hey, Starling... I don't know why I didn't peg you as a fellow NYer before! While I understand your desire to 'disconnect' at the stylist, I'm one of those people who's generally very happy to converse with strangers, which is fine, because I'm also one of those people that strangers walk up to and start talking to and asking for help/directions/conversation. (This is probably why I'm a shrink who's a journalist in her spare time.)

I'm generally fed up with technologies that disconnect people from the world around them in general- especially cell phones and anything with a little television screen on it. I can't stand the growing movement that we're all supposed to cheerfully accept depersonalization as some wonderful march of progress that we really wanted all along.

On the other hand, I sympathize with a previous poster- getting hit on, aggressively flirted with, even sleazily proposed to by a cabbie ruins my entire afternoon (and I take maybe three NYC cab rides a year). I've had run-ins with such skeezy cabbies that, despite being a generally tough chick, I've asked to stop the ride and get out halfway through my trip just to escape the otherwise unescapable (and to run to the nearest chemical shower).

However, much more often, I've had wonderful encounters with cabbies. When I was covering the E3 convention this year in LA, the cabbie that took me to LAX for my trip home talked through the entire hour about his amazing journey from the UAE to live in America, his family, and his hopes and dreams. I've had a Pakistani man give me a 15-minute lesson in Arabic that I still use to turn the heads of the guys who work at my corner deli. And I met about the coolest fifty-something Latina cabbie who regaled me with tales of driving in the Bronx in the 70s when being a cabbie (especially a female one) was practically suicidal (watch "Taxi Driver" for more information).

So yeah, it's a mixed bag. But talking on the phone? No debate. I wish it were illegal for ANY driver, coach or otherwise. I'd rather deal with a skeeze for 10 minutes than go through his windshield. Just barely.

sympathy, but not enough

By: P Starling | Tue, 08/04/2009 - 12:38

I hate talking with my stylist. I don't know why, probably because I am usually in a stressed-out frenzy and like the downtime to regroup. It's not a stylist-specific thing, either, just a general preference. But I would probably react badly if my stylist decided to talk on her hands-free headset while cutting my hair, even if I wasn't in the mood to entertain her myself.

So while I sympathize with the cabbie who started out in a profession rich with human interaction and who is now insulated by glass and those horrible little televisions from any real possibility of discussion, I'm still not okay with the use of cell phones while driving. Particularly in NYC, where I spend a lot of my life trying not to get run over. I would be totally cool with the driver using an iPod, maybe books on tape, some fun radio, whatever. But the research is too clear and the stakes too high to make chatting on the phone while driving okay, and I'd feel completely justified in asking the cabbie to stop, or to let me out and allow me to flag a cab with an attentive driver.

Taxi restrictions

By: yogibeaty | Tue, 08/04/2009 - 12:30

OK, first of all, the change in requirements for cabbies started well before Giuliani. Secondly, almost ALL of those changes were to protect cabbies from passengers, not vice-versa. 3rd, the changes that restricted cabbies were due to overwhelming demand by passengers (radio, heat etc.)4th, cabbies are no more able to cope with the extra mental demands of phone calls than professional long-haul truckers, which a recent study showed were 4 times more likely to be in an accident than when they were not talking on a phone.

Come on, people, just hang up and drive.

does anyone else remember

By: straplessliving | Tue, 08/04/2009 - 12:25

does anyone else remember receiving the following advice as an adolescent: if you feel slighted by someone, and want to confront them, first write an angry letter that you burn instead of mailing? thus preventing you from emotionally lashing out in an inarticulate manner and rendering whatever legitimate argument you had moot? i think this would have been an excellent opportunity to employ that coping method.

Safety

By: mustireallyweighin | Tue, 08/04/2009 - 12:07

The research is clear, driving while talking on a cell phone (even hands free) multiplies your accident risk.

I am not paying a cabbie to live his/her personnel life, I am paying them to safely get me from point A to B.

Some people...

By: jennies1897 | Tue, 08/04/2009 - 11:35

Some people don't want to chat it up with their Taxi driver. I'm kinda of ambivalent about it, but I've had enough bad experiences getting into cabs with the driver wanting to pick me up to say I keep it to a minimum.

I think it's inappropriate for a cabbie to be flirting with his female fare, riding alone. I'm completely under the control of the driver and usually don't know a lot about where I'm going or how to get there. Everytime I get an unwanted advance, I look for a way out of it without offending anyone. Sometimes it can't be avoided and friendliness is perceived as flirtatious behavior...things can get sticky quickly and you're alone in the back of a cab with some guy you're sure is tagging you as someone who's playing coy.

Dunno. Maybe it's best to just avoid having the conversations with people you don't care about anyway? That's my take...

If he talks on the phone while I'm riding I think I have a right to be concerned with the idea his attention is drawn away. Sorry, author. Lots of jobs are lonely and boring. Convenience stores in the middle of nowhere. Reception. Filing. Data entry.

Chatting away while at break though? Who cares...let it go...

Taxi Drivers are chauffeurs

By: marina1 | Tue, 08/04/2009 - 11:20

This is from Wiki: A chauffeur is an individual who operates any self-propelled vehicle (automobile) for a profession.

Unbelievable. Does she really think they are not??? Why would I pay for a taxi somewhere only to have a driver think he is not my chauffeur? This is a lame article. The author is upset because her father is bored and can't talk to the passenger? What job allows you to talk on the phone while you are with a customer? They are supposed to be providing a service. They are so unprofessional hence the reason I guess they are driving a taxi. And I don't say how I want to break some client's glasses for not letting me chat it up with my friends while I"m working! She sounds like a real kook to me. I'm paying him to drive, and give me a peaceful ride, my choice in air or heat, my choice of what I want to hear and not hear and when I leave he is free to take all the talk breaks he wants. It pisses me off that they think they can talk so rudely over our phone conversations on the phone, disrupt our thinking...sometimes I'm preparing for a meeting and need to clear my head or need that time to go over my notes. I don't want to hear some rambling on the phone 2 feet from my head. I also don't want to hear swearing and complaining about other drivers. Then they wonder why people don't tip 20%. I hardly think I would tip my waiter 20% if he was on the phone while serving me and expected to chat it up with me at the table.