taxisaThe only time I ever got a bit scared when I was living in Jamaica was when I had a massive argument with a cabbie for charging me too much – I had to run out and hide because he started to get really aggressive.

What are the cabs like where you live? Love ‘em or hate ‘em?

Taxi drivers are the object of rage for a growing number of passengers in South Africa who have been protesting against their speeds and seeming lack of safety when it comes to the rules of the road. A facebook group and protest group has been set up called Enough is Enough.

I got an email from Cecile about it -

Yes I have been intimidated by taxi’s and I think it is fair to say that most people driving on the road in South Africa have been affected. One taxi driver has actually driven over a red light, smashed into my dad and then tried to drive away..with the same mini bus taxi.
It is so unfair, and you know some people don’t have a choice but to use the taxi’s for transport. As a country we are shouting out for this to end!! Why should you be afraid to follow the road laws. Something has to be done!!
It comes at the same time as taxi drivers themselves have been protesting (see the photo above) taken in Johannesburg as their livelihoods are threatened by government plans for a new bus system which could put 500 minibus taxis off city routes.
I’m asking Cecile to do a report on this and to try and sympathise with a taxi driver’s plight.
There’s more coming from South Africa from my colleague James Fletcher (who I sit next to at work). He’s going to SA next week to work with citizen journalists who will be reporting on the election from their point of view.