It really has been a long time (6 months) since I last posted on this blog and here goes the story. This time it's not from me as a taxi driver but rather as a passenger.
On 6 July 2007, I was back from a company business trip from Shanghai. My wife and I boarded a CityCab Taxi bearing registration no: SHB2117D at Changi Airport Terminal 2 at 22:37hrs. As I got into the taxi, I told the driver I wanted to go to Bukit Batok East Ave 3. He was driving along the extreme right lane #1 and about 1km before the exit to PIE I asked him; "Uncle, which road are you using to go to Bt Batok?" His reply; "Which road you want take?" "PIE, it's nearer." "Go straight by ECP also can" was his reply. He must be joking, I thought to myself. From ECP via AYE via Clementi Ave 6. Traffic at that time was moderate. Hey, I was a taxi driver with CityCab and Comfort too, just that I didn't tell him.
I thought taxi drivers are supposed to ask the passenger/s the preferred route. Never mind, I thought to myself, small matter. But no, this is just the beginning of our nightmare ride.
As we neared exit #1 to PIE about 100m away, he is still on ECP lane #1. Suddenly, he swerved sharply to PIE exit #1 and continued driving in a dangerous manner at speeds of up to 130km/h. He tailgated almost all the cars that were in front of him, weaving in and out and overtook on the left on many occasions disregarding the safety of the passengers and other road users.
Upon reaching Eunos exit #9, he was on the outer lane when he suddenly swerved to extreme inner lane of the PIE and continued his dangerous driving along the extreme inside lane, overtaking vehicles both from inside and outside and weaving in and out once until we reached Paya Lebar exit #11. He was on the extreme inner lane once again overtaking other vehicles. Now these lanes are meant for vehicle exiting to Paya Lebar only. He then made a sharp turn to the inner most lane of PIE and drove along the corrugated road markings to get back to the PIE.
At this moment, my wife held on to my hands tightly, shaking with fear for our safety throughout the journey. He continued his crazed driving, tailgating vehicles, driving in a dangerous manner without regards to the passengers in the taxi and other road users, and again weaving in and out, speeding excessively well above the legal speed limit.
When we passed Eng Neo Avenue exit #22, I told him to exit by the Clementi Road/Bukit Timah Road exit 26A, drive towards Upper Bukit Timah Road and turn left to Old Jurong Road opposite the Fire Station. I further told him to turn right at the traffic light after the Shell Petrol station and then left again at the traffic light leading to Bt. Batok Ave 4. Thereafter, I showed him the direction to my block at 287 Bukit Batok East Avenue 3. For every turns and traffic lights, we went through sudden twisting turns, braking and over-steers like a roller coaster. It was a horrific experience for my wife but I remained calm.
As we reached our destination at 23:02hrs, my wife got out of the taxi and stood there frozen. I asked her what happened. She told me she got cramps and was shaking with fear from the entire experience.
Now I am not sure what this taxi driver was unhappy with, but from the way he's driving, he is not only putting his passengers' life at risk but also that of other road users.
I personally have heard so much about black sheep drivers but this one takes the cake and score full points for tarnishing the image of other good taxi drivers in Singapore. While there are definitely black sheep in every industries, I never, for once imagined I would get to experience one real dangerous mad cap of a driver.
I have lodge a complaint with CityCab regarding this incident and was assure that firm action would be taken against this taxi driver. But I do know a fact that most of time taxi companies will only call the taxi driver personally and told them that a complaint have been lodged and would generally advise the driver to be more careful in future. Hey, taxi companies can't afford to offend the taxi drivers too much. They need revenue too from renting out the taxi. And is good profit. If not, why else would there be so many taxis on Singapore roads. In terms of taxis on our population, we are probably the highest in the world on per population ratio. We have something like 23,000 taxis serving a population of only 4 million.
I look forward to more posting if I see anything interesting to write.
Cheers.
