Cabs Will Soon Get Cameras to Monitor Driving

Some cab drivers are worried about a pilot program to install digital cameras on the outsides of their vehicles in order to monitor their driving. The city is planning to install the cameras on at least 20 vehicles as part of a pilot program, and Matthew Daus at the Taxi and Limousine Commission says, "This technology is being used effectively throughout the for-hire vehicle industry, and it is saving them considerable amounts of money on their insurance costs." EmpireCLS, the country's largest luxury car chauffeur company, has reduced payout costs for accidents by more than $500,000 since installing the cameras. Some yellow cabs already have cameras pointed toward the interior to deter crime, but Bhairavi Desai, president of the Taxi Worker's Alliance, hates the idea of exterior cameras. He tells the Daily News, "This would absolutely be an invasion of privacy. It's intrusive."

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By John Del Signore in News on January 5, 2009 3:36 PM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

A little post-production and they can spin that video of their shitty driving into gold for the video game industry.

Amanda Harletsch

what about controling the whole:

TAXI DRIVER "where are you going"

ME "Brooklyn"

TAXI DRIVER silence,speeds up, he's gone!

That exemplar "PRIVATE" behavior is not only ILLEGAL, but who controls that?

that's ONE example were the cameras become handy!

babyhitler

my response has been always "fuck cabbies!" to anything ever pertaining to cabbies and it holds true now.

Outter Burrougher

if you have a problem with a specific cab driver, report them. otherwise, dear fellow readers, can we maybe recall that cab drivers are people, too.

The Edge

It's hard to report 20,000 cabbies at once.

BMMDan

child rapists are (technically) people. i'm jus' sayin'

birdmechanical

C'mon, I wouldn't want a camera watching me all day either.

I don't always like the, "But if you're not doing anything wrong what's the problem" argument.

Overall though, we just got through the fight over having GPS in the taxis....which I think is great. Let's slow it down and wait before we rile everyone up again.

The Edge

They drive like fucking douches all the time.

Hopefully this will curb that.

TheMyrnaMinx

Bhairavi Desai is a she, not a he.

Amanda Harletsch

Something to hide? get over the paranoia!

LOVE the panoptic society if is in favor of everybody's security. How many maniacs can actually be taken out of public space this way!?

CR

Dick Wolfe - are you listening?

robingee

Intrusive? What, will we catch them not bathing?

Tgirl

whatever it takes, they drive like maniacs most of the time

Wza

Kinda off-topic, but going to the Herald Square subway station makes me feel like I'm in some type of futurisic movie with all those myvu ads all over the place.