The TLC has to stop fucking with cabbies already. From month to month, the agency seems to levy some petty new restriction or fine against them, honking being the latest one. Don’t get me wrong, excessive use of the horn by any driver is obnoxious. However, this idea of charging them $350 for honking in non-emergency situations is unfair.
For one, it’s not that widespread of a problem: According to the TLC’s own numbers, the amount of complaints against tax cabbies for this type of offense are down from last year. Secondly, it’s sometimes a very necessary tool in a society where most people have cell phones stuck to their heads and are oblivious to the world around them. Third, they’re not the only guilty party.
As someone who works within earshot of the Lincoln Tunnel, I can state equivocally that excessive honking is a daily annoyance. Every day, cars clog the streets of Hell’s Kitchen as they make their slow procession towards the entrance of the tunnel and lay on their horns the whole way. But none of them are taxis… they’re New Jersey drivers. Feel free to hit them with fines en masse, but give cabbies a break, their job is hard enough as it is, and docking what is essential three days pay isn’t going to help anything.
If the TLC is really bored and needs a project to keep busy, how about removing all those ridiculous autoplay Taxi TVs that everyone hates and bumps their knees on and replace them with wifi hotspots? That’s something the public and cabbies would support! (Photo: Peter Lee/flickr)
