NYC calling all cabbies: Hang up that phone

[October 17, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Like so many who hail yellow taxis in the city, businessman Amit Agrawal says he's fed up with hearing cabbies talking on their cell phones while driving.

"That could be dangerous," he said Friday as he walked to a subway stop in lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center construction site. "I think that it should be prohibited in a place like New York City where the traffic is so bad."

But Agrawal and anyone else who has ever been frustrated by cabbies on the phone might get their full attention soon.

In an effort to keep cabbies focused on the road, the city's Taxi & Limousine Commission proposed on Friday prohibiting cab drivers from using any electronic devices, including handsfree products and smart phones.

Taxi drivers have been prohibited from using handheld and handsfree phones while driving since 1999. But the new rules would significantly increase penalties and prohibit drivers from even wearing wireless headsets.

New York state banned texting while driving earlier this year.

The National Safety Council, a nonprofit advocacy organization, has called for a nationwide ban on all cell phone use while driving because of hazards associated with the practice.

TLC Commissioner and Chairman Matthew Daus said the rules being proposed would be novel in targeting wireless handsfree headsets. Cabbies often use headsets on their right side, away from the window, making it harder for law enforcement officials to see them, he said.

"There really is no reason that you should be having it. There's no point," Daus said, adding that drivers often wear the devices to be able to ask friends for directions or to talk to their relatives while they're driving. "You know, it's a tough job, I understand that, but lives are at stake and at risk here, and it's the wrong thing to do to your passengers."

Taxi driver Adnan Aziz admitted that he sometimes uses his handsfree headset to talk on his cell phone and agreed that it could be unsafe to talk or even take a call while driving.

"Sometimes what happens is, you're talking to a friend, he might tell you something new or surprising, and it might take your attention from the road," said the 25-year-old cabbie, who drives two to three days a week while he goes to college.

He suggested the commission do a study to see whether taxi drivers on cell phones are causing accidents, or if it's other motorists who are equally distracted by their own electronic devices.

The proposed changes would also mean increased penalties for repeat violators: For instance, drivers could have their licenses revoked if they are convicted of three cell phone violations within 15 months.

Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the Taxi Workers Alliance in New York, called the proposal "cruel and irresponsible." She said the ability to use cell phones while driving, especially the use of wireless ear pieces, is a critical safety concern for the members of the cabbie association.

"Taxi drivers work in such isolation, and it's a dangerous profession," she said. "Imagine you're picking up strangers all day and all night long. You mean to tell me in the morning on a Friday night you expect a taxi driver to be defenseless on the streets of New York?"

The rules are expected to be formally proposed by December. Public hearings would then be scheduled.

Commissioner Daus said he was confident the new rules would be enacted by 2010.

"When this law passes, our inspectors will be on every street corner, pulling people over who have the Bluetooth on. The problem will be gone in a very short period of time," he said.

[Associated Press; By CRISTIAN SALAZAR]

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