Recent accidents involving taxis have raised
concerns over how safety-conscious taxi drivers are.
But cab operators said that they have been going the extra mile
to improve safety among their drivers, even though it is not
required by the authorities.
On March 19, there was a three-way
accident involving three cabs at the junction of Ang Mo Kio
Avenue 5 and Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8. No one was hurt.
Prior to that, a taxi went out of
control on the Pan-Island Expressway on Jan 19, resulting in
the death of a woman and injuries to three people.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) told My Paper last Thursday
that there are no requirements for taxi companies to send their
cabbies for extra driving classes, following an accident.
But Singapore's biggest taxi operator, ComfortDelGro, said that
it sends cabbies for a
defensive-driving course if they are found to be at fault or
partially at fault in two accidents within a year.
The full-day course, comprising theory and practical tests, is
held at ComfortDelGro Driving Centre.
SMRT's vice-president of corporate communications, Mr Kalai
Natarajan, said its taxi drivers are counselled and sent for an
internal safe-driving course if they are involved in accidents.
"If there were to be a subsequent accident within the same year,
we (will) issue a warning and will require hirers to attend the
defensive-driving course conducted by the Singapore Safety Driving
Centre, at their cost," he added.
The course consists of a theory lesson on driving safely and an
assessment of their driving. Feedback from the assessment will be
given to SMRT and the firm will decide whether the cabbies are fit
to drive its cabs.
Mr Ang Hin Kee, a member of the Government Parliamentary
Committee for Transport, said that taxi companies send their
drivers for the extra driving classes because they value road
safety and the safety of their customers.
There are also measures to ensure older cabbies are still able
to drive safely.
For taxi drivers who want to extend their vocational licences
beyond the age of 70, the LTA requires them to take an assessment
comprising a medical examination, an occupational-therapist
evaluation and an on-road driving test.
But not all taxi operators need their cabbies who have been
involved in accidents to go for extra driving lessons.
For instance, Prime Taxi does not have such a practice. Instead,
it handles cabbies who get into accidents on a case-by-case
basis.
Still, some driving instructors believe taxi drivers are more
accident-prone than many other road users.
Private driving instructor Frankie Yue said that taxi drivers
"are in more of a rush than most other road users", because they
work on a time-based schedule.
"I've noticed certain bad road habits that are more prevalent
among taxi drivers, such as running yellow lights and not checking
their mirrors while making a turn," he said.
Another private driving instructor, who wanted to be known only
as Mr Lim, agreed, adding that "taxi drivers tend to speed more and
cut (into) other people's lanes very dangerously".
Nevertheless, Mr Ang, who is also the adviser to the National
Taxi Association, said that "everyone plays a part in road safety"
and that we "cannot pinpoint it (on) one road user".