Encouraging good behaviour
It is a very good move by the Abu Dhabi authorities to place cameras in taxis (‘Drivers welcome CCTV cameras in their taxis’, Gulf News, August 2). I think it’s important to note that it is not only passengers who sometimes display bad behaviour, rather, some drivers behave badly too. These cameras will help identify them.
From Mr Nawshan Mohammad M.
Dubai
Facebook comment
Be nicer to drivers
I booked a taxi the other day and found garbage in the door of the cab. I was discussing it with the taxi driver, and he said that he could not complain about it because the customer is always right. There are customers who even cut their finger nails inside taxis and do not like it when the taxi driver asks them not to do so. Where is civic sense? And we complain about the drivers! They are also human beings. What a life, sitting at the wheel driving different people around the whole day and perhaps at night, too. Taxi drivers look after all kinds of passengers. Let us be patient and bear with them. Yes, cameras will be a good solution. Hopefully, the cameras will catch both the right and the wrong!
From Ms Zelma K. De Souza
UAE
Facebook comment
More training needed
I think more training is needed for taxi drivers. It’s not good to have a taxi driver who has recently passed his driving test and is a nervous driver, taking passengers around a busy city. Additionally, it’s bad customer service from any company, when taxi drivers are not trained on locations and street names. It’s also not a nice feeling being in the back seat of a taxi, when you feel the driver is being reckless just because you have asked them to perhaps stop jumping lanes or not speak on the phone while driving.
From Ms Aisha Hurley
Abu Dhabi
Facebook comment
Talking on the phone
I have come across many taxi drivers who talk on their mobile phones while driving. If I tell them to please stop, they are irked and drive rashly.
From Ms Fatima Rishana
Dubai
Facebook comment
No favours
Sometimes, if you just ask taxi drivers to slow down, they behave rudely. One driver got very nasty with me. Sadly, I was so angry, I forgot to get his car plate number. Some of the drivers act like they are doing passengers a favour.
From Mr Steve Lewis
UAE
Facebook comment
It’s a tough job
Why is everyone blaming taxi drivers? Please understand their living conditions. They rarely have any days off, even during Ramadan. Drivers often become nervous because they are coping with a lot of tension, especially when expected to know the desired location of a passenger. In such cases, perhaps the driver has recently joined and doesn’t know every area of the city. So, let them be free to drive and learn, and encourage them in a friendly manner.
From Mr Sabu Rahman
Dubai
Facebook comment
When camera is off
Would the camera’s control be in the hand of taxi drivers? Then what is the guarantee that the camera will be on, always? Even when a driver is misbehaving, how do we prove it?
From Mr Umesh Kumar
Abohar, India
Facebook comment
Not logical
In response to Mr Umesh Kumar, what is the use if the camera will be controlled by the taxi driver? If it is turned off, then it is a fact that the driver doesn’t want to be caught doing something — that he doesn’t want the camera to record. I think that is proof in itself!
From Mr Sherwin Mariano
UAE
Facebook comment
Keeps all in check
There are many drivers that need to improve their driving, as per my experience. Especially when you ask them to take you for a short distance journey that they don’t like! Sometimes, I find them aggressive in their driving, as they try to get passengers to their destination quickly. The camera should record both passengers and the driver, to be fair.
From Ms May Thu
UAE
Facebook comment
A two-way street
These cameras will help passengers in many ways. We are not blaming drivers and saying that all are bad, but there are some taxi drivers who take advantage of new passengers, who do not know all the roads and locations. I think that this is mostly happening with women when they are alone in a taxi, so drivers start asking questions like, ‘where you are from’, ‘what is your profession’ and so on. Many other drivers are honest and will take you on the shortest route and will be quiet all the way.
Anyway, I think there are good and bad people in every area of life, but during travel, the driver should be honest, nice, polite and know how to drive on both busy and empty roads. We, passengers, should respect all drivers, especially if we are sure they are kind and good at their job.
From Mr Mohammad Jehanzeb
Sharjah
Facebook comment
My views were silenced
I recall writing on a US teacher’s website that I belong to, about gun laws, after yet another massacre of school children at the time (‘Inside the global gun culture’, Gulf News, July 30). Each time I commented about restrictions — yes, I am aware that guns do not kill people, that people using guns kill people — my comments against guns were removed. This was regardless of the fact that I made my comments at different times of the day and in response to other people’s comments. I kept writing back and asking why only my comments were erased. The founder of the link mentioned ‘technological problems’! I found that interesting, considering no one else’s comments were dismissed! Obviously, someone or some people didn’t like my thoughts on stricter laws for those in personal possession of guns.
From Mr Em Dodds
UAE
Facebook comment
Tourism at risk
According to reports published in online news websites Yahoo and a magazine called ‘The Richest’, based in Canada, most tourists who visit India — Mumbai in particular — face obvious threats, such as aggressive retaliation, sexual assaults, pick pocketing, burglary and con artists. Female visitors have been advised not to travel alone in India as sexual crimes are common, and police are notoriously inactive in the fight against them.
Recently, Indian police arrested five men, in connection with the alleged abduction and gang rape of a 23-year-old Japanese tourist in December 2014. Last January, a 51-year-old Danish tourist was gang raped at knife point in Delhi, India. In 2013, a Swiss cyclist in Madhya Pradesh was robbed and gang raped. According to Der Spiegel, a German newspaper, a German woman was raped in South India by a man sharing her compartment in a train going to Chennai.
India is a beautiful and historically rich country, attracting thousands of visitors from all over the world each year. However, in view of such untoward incidents, I believe tourists are deeply concerned about their security and safety, and this would cause a dip in tourist numbers to the country and a reduction in international arrivals.
From Mr Mumtaz Hussain
Dubai
Test cricket, here to stay
The Ashes series has seen an interesting see-saw going on this year (‘No panic in Australia camp, coach Lehmann insists’, Gulf News, August 2). After the first Test loss, no one would have expected the Australians to bounce back so strongly to lord over others, at Lords. The loss by a mammoth margin of over 400 would have shattered any world class team, but what a remarkable comeback by Alister Cook and his team, spearheaded by James Anderson to bundle out the Aussies for just 136 at Birmingham. Ironically, though Michael Clarke wanted to bowl first, they surprisingly chose to bat and face the music. Probably, this tactical error and his lean patch, could cost him his captaincy and even a place on the team! In any case, this Ashes series has once again proved that Test Cricket is here to stay. Long live cricket, especially Test cricket!
From Mr N. Mahadevan
Mylapore, India
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