The trend of travelling by cabs has become almost second nature to most of us, especially those living in metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai and such.
In today’s time with Autos becoming more of a nuisance and the easy comfort of getting a nice cab whenever and wherever you are, makes the choice extremely easy to make.
However with the rise in popularity of cabs, there has also been a rise in accidents of cabs, what with driving for long hours, not getting enough rest and rash driving.
Along with that crime related to cabs has also seen a steady rise, with cab drivers robbing, molesting and even raping passengers and women seated.
Now we all know the basic safety tips when travelling in cabs that are, forward the contact information of the driver to your emergency contact, be alert when traveling at night or through deserted road, keep your phone handy and more.
But today, I would like to bring to you some other practical tips that have come up due to some recent news events that I saw in relation to traveling in cab.
1. Child Lock
Child lock should be a very important thing to give attention to. A driver can very easily lock you into the car and you will not be able to get out if the child lock is activated.
Now, I know that it is not very easy to figure out if a car has a child lock or not, however, a glance at the passenger doors should reveal something like in the image below.
This indicates that the car has a child lock, and thus I would just suggest not getting into that cab and instead get some other cab.
Or and I know that this might be weird, but you could just sit on the passenger seat in the front. That door will not be affected by the child lock, so you should be safe.
Read More: South India & Bengal Road Trip Is A Nightmare: Drivers Have The Worst Behaviour With Tourists
2. Be Aware Of Where The Driver’s Phone Is Positioned
Now we all know of that incident where a driver was recording a woman passenger on his strategically placed phone.
A good thing when travelling in cabs would be to see where the driver’s phone is placed.
But remember that they usually have 2 phones, one for the cab and another that is their own.
So make sure to look at where both the phones are kept and that they are not recording you or anything.
3. Be Aware Of Whom The Driver Is Talking To On The Phone And What They Are Saying
Speaking of phones, I believe this point to be even more important than where the driver’s phone is located.
Im sure we all must have experienced this, we are traveling in a cab and suddenly our driver’s phone rings, and he starts to talk to someone, probably making plans to meet or something or another.
Now this is where, and I know, you shouldn’t listen in on someone’s conversation but even still, you should just keep an ear out at what exactly the driver is saying.
If only for your own safety, make sure that you don’t tune out his conversation, instead just listen in a bit.
Hope these tips could be of use to you all and I don’t want to create a panic or imply that travelling in cabs is just the most dangerous thing ever. However, the times we live in on today, there is nothing wrong with taking precautionary steps.
Image Credit: Google Images
Other Recommendations:
http://edtimes.in/2016/08/this-taxi-respects-women-a-new-strategy-to-ensure-safety-of-women-when-using-cabs/
http://edtimes.in/2016/09/kaayum-pegu-just-another-uber-cabs-victim-or-a-beacon-of-change-against-uber-incentive-schemes/
