Dangerous Driver Bedok North SHC1135C

Terence Teo informs the following on 07/11/2013:

On 7 November 2013, at about 7.40am, I was driving along Pan Island Expressway close to exit 8A/8B to Bedok North in the direction of Changi Airport when a Sonata Comfort Taxi, licence plate SHC 1135 C, cut into my lane from the left hand lane, the one that was leading to the Bedok North exit. The taxi came close to hitting me on my left front side. I have a video of the entire episode, which is why I can describe this encounter in such detail. 

I am sharing this with other road users, and this seems to be a recurring theme in all the posts I have read. I sympathise with taxi drivers and their long working hours and hard life, but this does not justify or condone reckless and dangerous behavior on the roads. Taxi drivers like to boast to me that they are professionals on the road and everyone else is an amateur, but the fact that you have long hours of experience and earn a living driving does not JUSTIFY arrogant and aggressive driving. I would like to ask taxi drivers to truly behave like professionals when they drive, so that we can post more positive experiences than negative ones.

Indeed, these drivers need to understand that no one owes them a living and they are motorists just like the rest. Unfortunately, waiting for them to gain this enlightenment is a recipe for disaster - as this blog shows. The best alternative then is to repeatedly call them out on their reckless, rude and fraudulent behaviour and intentions so that they will be cowered into behaving themselves. We urge you to submit the video to LTA through their online feedback portal so that it can be officially recorded against the driver's performance - more of such evidence will enable the authorities to clamp down on these errant motorists swiftly and prevent the accidents tha are waiting to happen because of them.

Clueless Egotistic Driver SH8148M

Milk C informs the following on 10/11/2013:

I came across your blog when I was googling for method to e-mail my bad experience with this cab driver to LTA, so I thought I should share it with you. 

On 10th November 2013, 1:07AM, my friends and I (there were four of us) decided to share a cab back home since we were all heading towards the same direction. We managed to hop onto this taxi (SH8148M) and told him our first destination. The taxi uncle seemed to be very indecisive and very unsure of which route to go as he would keep asking if it was okay to go by this route and re-confirm the route with us every few minutes. He seemed pretty polite (as of now) from the way he replied us after we re-affirmed the direction with him. 

The incident started after my first two friends alighted from the taxi. The remaining ones, my friend and I, lived in Tampines and Pasir Ris respectively. As our homes were really close to one another, normally we would tell the taxi uncle to go to the area which he thought was the closest one and allowed him to choose the route for us. It was different this time, however. The taxi uncle couldn't make up his mind where to go first, so he actually stopped the car some distance away from the traffic light on lane 1 before abruptly cutting through the lanes to lane 4 as he decided to go into KPE. 

The driver had yet to make up his mind even after we entered the TPE flyover, so I was telling him if he wanted to go to Pasir Ris first, he should exit by Exit 4. However, instead of listening to my suggestion, he asked for our addresses again (which we already told him after our two friends alighted). Nevertheless, we gave him again, but he still couldn't make up his mind whether to go Tampines or Pasir Ris first even when we were nearing Exit 5. 

Then, what he did next shocked me. He actually stopped the car in the middle of the highway and asked us where we preferred to go first (Note: There were 4 lanes and I vaguely remembered we were on the third lane). 

Honestly, my friend and I were really unsure whose house was nearer (since some of the taxi uncles would choose Tampines first, while some would choose Pasir Ris first), so I told the driver (again) to exit by Exit 4 if he wants to go into Pasir Ris, don't exit by Exit 5. However instead of following my request and/or acknowledging me, he just kept quiet and entered Exit 5 straight away and into Pasir Ris. 

I became annoyed because of that. But then I was having doubts that he might not have heard me, so I told him again that he should have exited by Exit 4 if he wants to go to my place, because it's faster. But he continued to remain silent and took my words like passing wind, which was then, I knew he was ignoring me on purpose. 

I started to look for his ID on the windscreen, but it wasn't there. So I asked him about it, in which, he finally opened his mouth and replied me (while raising his voice) that it had dropped and he didn't have time to paste it back. Then, he continued to raise his voice at me and said I was arrogant, which I thought was really out of nowhere (But after I think back about it, I think he said that because I was telling him that he should have exit by Exit 4 in a hostile way after we entered Pasir Ris. I was too frustrated at that point of time to talk to him nicely, especially when he failed to follow my request even after I told him that many times. My tone must have worsened as well after that because I was extremely pissed off by his rude attitude). 

After I alighted from the cab, my friend told me the driver kept on explaining that if he wanted to cheat our money, he would have gone to Tampines first. In that case, doesn't that means he already knew Pasir Ris was closer? =.= Why did he have to keep stopping the car in the middle of the road (dangerously) and asked for our opinions then (even when we repeated multiple times that either Tampines or Pasir Ris is fine)? 

Lastly, my friend told me he kept asking for my name. I'm not too sure why would he wants to know that, but I doubt it was for any good intention.

As you rightly point out, there can be no good intention from this driver. The best course of action is to lodge a complaint with LTA through their online feedback portal so that his actions can be recorded across different passengers. Otherwise, it is just a 'one-off incident' for each passenger he treats so poorly. Should we wait until an accident occurs and lives are lost before reflecting that we should have done this or that?

UPDATE on 24/11/2013 from Milk C:
Thank you for the suggestion. I've already sent my complaint to LTA and opted to revert the complain to Comfort because I think he should be given chance instead of having his licence revoked. Comfort had also responded to my complain, saying that they had issued warning to the driver. Hopefully similar incident will not happen again.

Driver Wanted for Film

Charly informs the following on 01/11/2013:

Dear Sir, I am a producer for MAKE Productions in Singapore and we are filming a pilot programme with Indonesian/French singer Anggun on Tuesday November 5th. We would like to film Anggun in a taxi who shows her around Singapore and would appreciate your advice on a recommendation for a taxi driver who would be appropriate for this. I understand your website is dedicated to negative experiences with cab drivers but perhaps you know some who deserve to be featured for being more positive cab role models?  

We would like someone who is charismatic and knows a lot about the city, who is very proud of the city and is happy to be on camera. We would need him/her to be available from 9AM to 11AM on November 5th. Please let me know if you have any ideas - I look forward to hearing from you.  

Kind regards, Charly

Readers, please nominate any driver whom you think is deserving for this role, thanks. You can leave the name and contact number of the driver in the comments or drop me an email at teo.lee.fong@gmail.com.