to think more female taxi drivers would make people more comfortable?

[SueSylvesterforPM]

I've pondered this for a long time

after having a nasty incident with 2 taxi drivers at 15
and now my cousin is telling me (14)

that she got a taxi with a few mates to a birthday and he was asking for numbers address generally being innapropriate and knew how old they were.
Many women I've known have had unpleasant experiences at the hands of Taxi drivers

i'm not tarring them all btw, I've always wondered if I had enough money behind me I'd make a company for it

so yeah is it a daft Idea??

[Goblinchild]

Neither have I, and I've been in taxis in many exotic and unfamiliar locations as well as Dear Old Blighty. Doesn't mean that others might feel much less comfortable and want a woman, so I think there is definitely a market for a female-only service.

[SardineQueen]

Gracie that's a great plan, but how can people share a cab home if they live in different houses?!

I have had a few dodgy can drivers in my time. One made me so uncomfortable I lied and said I was where I wanted to be and got out - luckily it was the middle of the day and buses had just started running again (I don't normally get cabs in the middle of the day but it was an unusual day). My friend and I also got out of a cab a way from home when we were about 16 as the driver was being really odd...

I don't think female cab drivers for females are a bad idea TBH. I'm sure there is a good reason there aren't more companies offering this though (people have said some good ones on this thread).

[DaisyLovesMetronidazole]

Women are capable of being pervs too.

[SardineQueen]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeees....

I haven't been sexually assaulted by that many women in my life though, I have to say. It has mainly been men. Mainly, in the sense of always...

[Goblinchild]

I've got male friends that won't give unknown women a lift in their cars unless they are accompanied by a friend of the man.
Too risky, and it's embarrassing and worrying to be flirted with by a woman when alone with her. Apparently.

[Goblinchild]

I didn't mean that to sound sarcastic BTW, some women can be difficult to stop or control when in flirticious moods, especially if a bit pissed. Then what's a bloke to do? Fend them off? Make them walk?
I'm sure a male taxi driver might feel uncomfortable, sensible friends of mine certainly have been.

[SardineQueen]

zukie men do basically get a male only cab service? I have never had a female cab driver, and I have been in my fair share of cabs!

[AyeRobot]

Of course a consumer has the right to ask for a particular service! The company is just not obliged to provide it.

[Georgimama]

So do you think it's OK to ask for a white taxi driver? Because it's the same principle - consumer preference.

Funnily enough, just as some teachers seduce their pupils, some doctors are negligent or perverts and some coppers are bent, some taxi drivers are rapists/murderers. It's not a universal rule, though.

[Kallista]

I have to get taxis every week and the drivers are always male. I have only felt uncomfortable twice, out of hundreds of journeys.
I do take certain precautions though.

[AyeRobot]

There's no law to say that you can't ask for a white taxi driver. Not saying I agree with it, but you can do it.

And of course I realise that it's all about "some" taxi drivers. I confess to getting myself tied up in knots about this, but I make no apology for my stance.

What precautions do you take? And would you make the same ones with a woman driver?

[brighthair]

I got called a grumpy ginger b*tch by one taxi driver. Had a bad day at work, didn't want conversation, so just replied yes and no to his 90 million questions. Then he called me that. I complained to the firm and haven;t used them since

[Goblinchild]

I use a cab from a known company, or a licensed black cab.
I used to live in a city where some of the nastiest muggers were female and preying on other teenagers, and my DS has had the shit scared out of him by several Brighton hen parties and now plans his journeys accordingly.
So no, I don't assume that all women drivers are fine and all males potential aggressors. But it is a personal viewpoint that I am comfortable with, and if others choose to be constantly more aware of potential dangers, I wouldn't call them irrational.

[millie30]

When I was in a refuge there was a women only cab firm advertised on the noticeboard, and the staff also recommended them. They got quite alot of business, I always used them. Logically I know that most male taxi drivers aren't rapists, but at that particular time in my life I was vulerable and felt safer with a woman driver. I think they are a good idea.

[HerBeX]

I don't assume all cab drivers are rapists - my brother's one and I think he's not one - wd be very shocked if he were.

It's just a question of cutting the odds and for me personally supporting businesses run by women in the same way that I would go out of my way to support a company run by a co-operative rather than shareholders.

I've only had one time in my life where a female has made an unwanted come-on to me, versus countless times when a male has.

The only time I didn't have to calculate the balance between the risk of violence versus being assertive enough to be totally understood, was with the female. Every other occasion has been the usual tiresome tightrope.

[Goblinchild]

I don't deny your logic HBX, I just can't live at that level of high alert and be happy.
I was brought up army, so I spent most of the 70s and early 80s being very wary of anything Irish, suspicious parcels, accents, offers of friendship.
Even now, that level of fear through my childhood means that I would never think of a holiday in Ireland as a choice. Irrational but that's how I feel.
So I'm not going down that path with half the population of the planet.

[HerBeX]

LOL I'm Irish and I too regard all things Irish with a suspicious eye. (Possibly for different reasons, mind you.)

It's not half the planet, though, it's taxi drivers. And I suppose the knowledge that I've got a 1 in 4 chance of being raped or sexually assaulted, does colour my attitudes - rape and sexual assault, is just so common. Plus I personally have felt that I was very close to being raped or sexually assaulted on so many occasions, or was so. Whereas I have never felt that I have just missed being blown up (even though i lived in London for years) and the chance of being the victim of a terrorist attack, is very slim -whereas the chance of being raped or assaulted, is actually quite high.

So yes you're right, our personal experiences will colour our attitudes to this.

[dontcallmepeanut]

My aunt used to run a taxi firm, and wouldn't hire many female drivers. Those that she did hire, she'd ask to only work day shifts. This was down to safety (greater chances of attacks on a female taxi driver)

[Goblinchild]

Chances of being affected by a terrorist act are higher if many of your nearest and dearest are in the forces. If you have seen the consequences of bombing first hand on the mainland, as well as living on army camps with their various levels of alert.
If your parents have a high security clearing and you are constantly on edge not to do anything that might breach that security, including casual friendships.
When a posting to Ireland for your father was the equivalent of a prospective death sentence when you are 7 and watching all the terror on the news.
So I've been afraid of a section of the community for a long time and have moved on and rationalised it and can cope with having friends that are Irish without being paranoid.
It took a while though.
Look at the level of fear about abduction of children by strange men elsewhere on the forum, despite the fact that a lost child is more likely to die by accident than murder.
I try and stay logical, and to me logic says that the vast majority of men are not aggressors, and my personal experience backs that up. So it's my personal choice to be happy to get into taxis driven by men without a second thought.

[HerBeX]

Yes that's true, you're much more likely to be affected by a terrorist attack if you're in the forces and to know people who have been so affected.

It's funny, I'm reading The Gift of Fear atm by Gavin de Becker, and he is interesting on how dangerous it is to ignore your gut feel in favour of logic (not that I'm suggesting you would do that, just that logic can be over-rated imo).

[Goblinchild]

Well, I stay away from Mosside, Salford, the rougher areas of Glasgow and Hackney at night if that's what you mean by using logic.
I also travel with company when possible, and I read up before I go abroad to know a little about the culture I'm visiting and the social rules that I might not be aware of.