I recently saw the CSI: New York episodes about the cabbie killer, and it got me to thinking. Should taxi cabs have the ability to lock all doors? I know it's a million times more likely that you'll want to jump out of the cab to jump the fare rather than having a psycopathic driver, but still, it twitches my brain. What do you think?
Yes, I've seen that and I think they shouldn't lock the doors. I mean you'll never know what'll happen to you. If the doors are lock, you won't be able to get out would ya? Hopefully cabs won't have childlock ever D:
Yeah. Chances are if you crash that the driver might be knocked unconcious. And then you're stuck... But we can probably trust them as gwd drivers most of the time? I don't live in the city and Ive been in a taxi maybe twice, so Im not sure.
No. Theyt shouldn't if people are getting murdered. This isn't a bad idea, but the taxi buisiness would start to decline.
You do realize that most cars have the option of being able to lock doors so that you can't open them at all from the inside in the back seats with child proof security. I'd find that worse than if a cabbie has control of the locks cuz you won't be getting out of the car unless the driver gets out and opens the back car doors for you. Some cabbies don't even lock all the doors while others do. Actually, quite a few drivers, not just cabbies, lock their car doors so that no one can get -in- to the cars as well as out. You can imagine up case scenarios where having the cabbie have control of his cab is bad, but I can also sit here and name reasons why seat belts and airbags are potentially dangerous, just as much as they are helpful. In the end you just deal with it and go on.
I don't think they should. I can understand why they do, for their safety and to help them if they are attacked, but it is something that by some is abused. When you get in a cab you are getting into a car willingly with a total stranger, you wouldn't do that normally so why are we so quick to trust someone just because they are driving a taxi? It isn't uncommon for people to pretend to be taxi drivers in order to lure people into cars. I'm not saying everyone should be paranoid and stuff, but caution is your friend <3 and I really dislike the fact that taxi drivers can lock me in the car D: hell I don't like the thought of anyone being able to lock me in a car >_> *rebelled against child locks as a kid*
Don't taxi drivers always carry guns with them in the car? Why do they wanna try to lock the door if they already have a weapon?
Same XD The idea of being locked into the taxi, for a reaosn or not, seems somewhat creepy or uncomfortable to me. What's the main reason taxi drivers want this?
IIRC and I may be wrong in this, I think it is so that people can't do things like jump fares. Plus (In know this is how it is here anyway with some firms) sometimes they have to go into really rough areas for fares, so being able to lock all the doors is a security thing. Not much of one, but a little.
In Australia, that is illegal and a cabbie could go to jail for that. And no offence, but I think the driver being able to lock doors and have to manually open it for you not only would increase the chances of getting raped/murdered, but would also waste time for you to get out of the car (if time is a big thing to you) and some people would feel uncomfortable with the idea of not being able to get out of the car anytime.
OK. Money's powerful so I'd expect taxi drivers to make a big fuss about this, even though there's many disadvantages. But the way it seems to me, they could lose money and make people even less secure, so taxi driver's reasons don't seem good enough to me. Phew, good thing us aussies don't have to worry about that. A taxi driver could have a gun stolen off him/her... But I suppose in some countries there's the risk of civilians having guns themselves already, so taxi drivers would need guns too. Terrible chain.
I agree with most bpeople saying they are against it. Child locks are good for cars with CHILDREN in them. However, I dont think taxi drivers should have them. @Momo: In the episode, there is this guy who goes ariund like a regular cabbie. However, when fares enter his car, he locks the back doors so they can't get out. Then, when the radio is set to a certain station, carbon monoxide is released into the back of the car. He then carves things into the people's neck, then drops them out of his car while drivind. I don't like the idea of anyone being able to lock me in anywhere, much less with a stranger. This could be a major problem in places like my hometown, Bogota, Colombia, or other places where there are messed up people running around. Yeah yeah, safety and all that, and fare jumpers, but i think the bad things outweigh the good.
I think it is vaguely creepy that cabbies can lock doors, because I get slightly claustrophobic, and anyways, if they want to do something to you, all they have to do is lock the doors, drive somewhere remote, and you are screwed. I would never get a cab anyway. I don't care how long it takes, I'm not getting in a cab by myself.
Regardless of the profession, there are always people who commit murders, and cabbies aren't any more likely to commit one than a doctor. The fact that the cabbie is a stranger doesn't make them any less professional, and keep in mind that backround checks are done before they are given the job. If anything, they should be the ones afraid; they are just doing their job, but they don't know who's getting into their cab. These extremely rare incidents should not affect the entire business. It's unfortunate when something like that happens, but it would be similar to restricting barbers to using safety scissors because of Sweeny Todd. The nature of thier profession makes it necessary for them to be able to lock their doors, because otherwise it would be so easy for someone to avoid payment, and dissapear into a crowd of people. So no, this "safety precaution" is not worth the loss of business that would result from it.
