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Side shields coming for cabbies?

Taxi board looks at beefing up safety

By: Melissa Martin

Posted: 02/26/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

New shields, new lights, new education: Manitoba cabbies will get something to keep them safe this year.

But the details are still to be decided. Exactly what? And exactly when?

In the wake of a surge in violence against Winnipeg cab drivers, the Manitoba Taxicab Board convened a meeting on Thursday to find new ways to protect drivers and discourage cabjacking.

One high-profile improvement on tap is the addition of side shields, a protective case that would guard a driver's right side. Currently, Manitoba cabs are only required to have shields behind the driver. About 40 taxi cabs in Manitoba's fleet of 437 have L-shaped side shields that they have installed voluntarily.

Taxicab Board director Jerry Kozubal said that a presentation would be made to the board on March 10 to make side shields mandatory. "The board will probably approve it," Kozubal said, saying the change could be in effect by April.

But Unicity Taxi general manager Gord Barton, who was at the meeting, said it was premature to consider the move a formal recommendation. "All we agreed was that it might be the best way to go under the circumstances," Barton said. "Nobody said anything about making them mandatory that I know. It was an option."

Coun. Harry Lazarenko, who sits on the board, said no motions were made on Thursday and that if side shields are found to be a worthwhile safety investment, the board will discuss the option on March 10.

Cab shields have been a hot-button issue in the industry since 2001, when the murder of 52-year-old driver Pritam Deol sparked legislation that included mandatory partial shields. That was before side shields, which can include a payment slot, became widely available in 2003.

But shields aren't the only safety option likely to go before the Taxicab Board next month. Also up for consideration are the addition of a mandatory flashing emergency light on cab roofs, a revised safety guidebook for drivers and the ability to pass on debit transaction fees to customers, so that cabs could offer debit payment and reduce on-hand cash.

Another proposal suggests a public education campaign to teach the public that cabbies have the right to ask for fare at the beginning of the ride, and that drivers are allowed to refuse a front-seat passenger.

Some of the recent incidents began when drivers asked a customer to pay upfront.

For cab drivers, the first two months of 2010 have been perilous. Drivers have been stabbed, beaten, threatened with knives and pepper-sprayed. At least a half-dozen cabs have been hijacked and crashed or ditched.

Just last weekend, one driver was threatened and another assaulted in apparently unrelated incidents in the North End. It's that kind of violence that prompted one cab driver to tell the Free Press simply, "I won't go to the North (End). It's not safe."

To make drivers feel safe again, it might take more than shields and lights. "I don't know why everybody's focusing on the shields," Barton said. "We should be focusing on locking those guys up that are attacking the drivers."

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 26, 2010 A11

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