One of the necessary evils of modern life is the taxi, which is not necessarily an evil in itself, but when coupled with a taxi driver, as is inevitably the case, the taxi assumes an entirely different aspect. So far, I have only been in one city where the taxi driver is subject to the taxi's will, rather than the other way round. In London the taxis are as placid as they look. Old looking vehicles gracefully roaming the city streets and obeying to the letter the laws of the road. London's taxis must be the safest form of transport in the world.

Despite travelling in taxis on four continents, with varying degrees of fear for my safety, I have never been in an accident involving my taxi. Until now, that is, which is something of a surprise, given the general chaos on Taiwan's roads. There is very little distinction between a Taiwanese taxi driver and a regular Taiwanese driver. The only way to really know the difference is by the colour of the car. Taxi drivers have yellow cars with "Taxi" written on them and additionally, to avoid confusion with other yellow cars, occasionally have a telephone number visible somewhere on the vehicle.

One other difference between the two, more difficult to spot, is that taxi drivers break the road laws more regularly than other Taiwanese drivers. For example, while a regular driver will go through a red light soon after it changed from amber, a taxi driver will do so at any opportunity and usually with his hooter blaring. Another method of checking if a vehicle is a taxi or not, is to try to cross the road as one approaches. If the vehicle hoots and slows slightly, it is not a taxi. If it hoots, but doesn't slow down, then it's a taxi and the only way to prevent it from hitting you is to hail it, which will miraculously bring it to an immediate halt.

Yesterday, Jia Hui and I hailed a taxi, using the more conventional method of standing on the kerb and raising our arms in desperation. Immediately there were indications that all was not going to be smooth driving. The taxi driver took off, without looking for oncoming cars and nearly slammed into a vehicle that had actually stopped at the red light, much to the taxi driver's annoyance. When the light turned green our taxi eagerly sped forward for a metre before really hitting the car in front of us this time, whose careless driver had taken the time to get her car in gear. The taxi's bonnet shot open and almost simultaneously the taxi driver leapt out of the taxi to assess the damage and determination of the other driver to stand up for herself.

Jia Hui and I were fine, not that he taxi driver took the time to inquire, and disembarked, after having traveled about 50 metres. We hailed another cab, which did get us safely to our destination, but not before Jia Hui had asked, "Do you think we should pay him?" Bless her!

15 May 2002

Dion Marc Delport

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