Taxi's and other Risks

Don’t hate taxi drivers (OK, I know this bit is difficult and I still struggle with this) but basically not good to hate anybody, just takes you to a level below the person you are hating, and gives you a hardened hart.

Wise words!!! Thanks for that

Perske wrote:Don’t hate taxi drivers (OK, I know this bit is difficult and I still struggle with this) but basically not good to hate anybody, just takes you to a level below the person you are hating, and gives you a hardened hart.

Wise words!!! Thanks for that

I dont hate them, I actually fear them and make sure that I am always on the look out for them at the following places/situation:
- Skipping red robots
- Suddenly changing lanes
- Pulling away without signaling from pavements/ bus stops, intersections etc
- Performing U-turns at the most unexpexted places and times
- Stopping/breaking down at ridicilous places
- Carrying passengers or stopping for passengers that will walk in front of you at any time
- Having a mechanical failure tyre blowout at any time

The bottom line is that we should realise that we are riding in Africa and not on the German Autobahn. Be forever on the watchout for those taxi's and fear them like you would fear a snake or a lion. Ensure that you always stay away from them in traffic and slow right down when you see one stopped in the/next to the road.

PS I hate snakes, admire lions but respect both

To me it comes down to risk management. One knows that certain categories of drivers are more prone to disregard traffic laws. Taxis have been mentioned, so enough said. Some other categories include (hope I do not cause unnecessary offense here, and it is not a generalisation, it is more tongue in cheek than anything else...)

On rural roads, you find the Hilux long wheelbase bakkie, often cream coloured, with a geriatric farmer wearing a veld hat. He often disregards his own turning signal, and whilst signalling left, he will turn right. This particular person is even more dangerous on a Sunday when he takes his family to church in his 1988 E230 Mercedes.

The farkled and blinged 4x4. Tinted windows, so nobody has any idea who the driver is, how many passengers it is carrying, and whether the driver actually has the physical length to see over the steering wheel. These vehicles are often seen cruising at slow speed, performing erratic acts of acceleration (but only at the beginning of the month when there is still money for petrol).

The suburban exodus. This particular group contains a variety of individuals. They usually leave their home or retirement village at around 0930 in the mornings (never over weekends) to avoid traffic. In doing so, they create their own little traffic incidents. For the older part of the population, the most popular vehicle is an 1980's Corolla, blue or cream coloured. The younger generation flits about in recent model Ford Fiestas, Opel Corsas and the occassional Polo. They aren't bad drivers normally, but they are distracted by infants or toddlers in the car. This group tends to flock around Post Offices, banks and fruit and vegetable stores.

Also tending to become only mobile by 0930 in the morning, you are likely to find the corporate salespeople, off to meetings, golf days, conferences. Cellphone glued to their ears, pointy shoes inhibiting clutch control. Driving like demons, they are often the result of causing the above group to have a traffic incident or some heart related medical emergency.

Dont forget those persons with the purple hair . Be on the watchout for them as well!!!!

pdekoker wrote:Dont forget those persons with the purple hair . Be on the watchout for them as well!!!!

Could not agree more, especially the female ones !!!

A word of caution here - this forum is open and can be read by all and sundry - i reckon we all share the same hates and pet-peeves amongst the cagers out there - from the very large to the very small. Just a thought. LeRoy

Good thought LeRoy, one should stop to think before letting thier pet hates out...

Point well taken...

Was I possibly treading on some toes?

No not in the least - i think you were voicing what all of us feel. Was out in the traffic earlier - my goodness - thanks heavens for the Beemers cornering abilities and ABS. LeRoy

You change the attitude of other fellow road users firstly by your own attitude.

Look at the traffic in Egypt and then start to appreciate our own taxi drivers.



No shoes - no helmet - and sometimes no teeth



When the wheel goes like this then you make like and not

Then there is probably nothing of value to protect - hence the no helmet. LeRoy

Ha ha
I realy enjoyed this forum. Just boaght my first bike and I am still learning a lot. Haven't even idea about half the stuff you are talking about. I tend to be overcautios and I am sure I have seen the person with the purple hair driving. Well I am realy enjoying the bike and will (hopefully) be joining at the club o the next meeting

Hearty welcome to the forum Henk

This morning I had two taxi incidents. However, both passed without much excitement, as mentioned by a previous poster, you expect the worst. Usually your expectations are rewarded and due to having had the expectation, you are ready for the impending emergency action.

Sometimes however, they are so erratic that the logical brain cannot stay that one step ahead. It is on those days that if I see a taxi, I simply hang back or find a way to pass when they are stopped, which they invariably do anywhere at anytime.

One does not hate the person, one hates the actions that put your life in danger.

Morpheus (And yes I sign every post)

They do tend to keep one awake on the bike. But even worse are the idiots that makes it their lifes mission to try and drive as close to you backwheel as possible. I normally just slack off and tapp the brakes a bit - so that the idiots get the idee.

What i have also seen of lateb is that most of our new motorists tend to pull the car to the left when pulling away - so rather stay either in front of them at a stop or traffic light or behind them that you have enough wiggle space when the enevitable jink to the left will happen. Regards.

Haven't realy looked at it that way Shows that experience counts.

Being a new biker I think goverment should make any person first get a bike licence for at least 5 years before you can ride a car. It sure as hel opened my eyes, and learned me about defensive driving. I even drove 18 wheelers so I was probably one of those idiots not looking at\for bikers.

At least you now have the chance to make up for mistakes made and bikers you might have irritated.

Just today:
Riding East down a main road in Sunnyside.
Taxi overtakes a string of cars across a solid line and cuts in at the intersection just as the lights turn green.
Crossing the intersection, the taxi then comes to a stop diagonally across the left lane and...

(you guessed it)

...starts offloading passengers...!

No, I don't hate taxi drivers...but I fervently wish they'd go find another country to drive around badly in.

We should actualy be very gratefull for taxi drivers. Imagine how bad brakes and tires would have been if we did not HAVE to stop very quickly

Sounds like you were in Charles - i would rather take a longer route into town than use Charles.

Guys, we should start looking at this picture from the other side too. It is very easy to critisize the 4-wheelers' driving techniques, just as they do ours.

Remember. No motorist with a normal mind ever EXPECTS to find a bike alongside or just behind him. He has to see the bike to adjust. Lanes are USUALLY used for one vehicle per place and that is what a motorist is used to. At the speed that some bikers fly through traffic I'm surprised there are not more accidents/incidents. When driving my car I also tend to forget about bikes and when one appears in the mirror (when I look at it) I'm startled. We don't drive in our mirrors all the time, only when we pertinently look at it. It is more a habit that a rule.

I have not found a taxi driver yet who has deliberately caused an incident when he knew of the bike in his wake. The opposite is rather true - in that they give way when they see you. OK, OK - WHEN they use their mirrors!!

Jackie Stewart (anybody remembers him?) in his high time in the 60's said "NEVER race except when on a race track and always ride/drive in anticipation". This is so true. If you expect the driver in front is not aware of you then you cannot expect to be considered. You call the shots when you're in traffic. You are responsible for your own destiny.

Even James at BMW Rider Academy preaches that if you happen to be in an accident at an intersection it is your own fault, even if the other party is to blame. You should look and anticipate...

Like one of our acquantances who recently made a race track of a public road and spent weeks in hospital after panelbeating a taxi. Yes the taxi was skipping the robot. but where was the "anticipation" and consideration for "normal" traffic in public? And making a race track of a public road! Not to be excused at all!!

Now kill me for these words...

Love you all

Cant kill somebody for being honest, i second those very wise words...

Not when they use their mirrors, if. But yes i do agree - when they know you are behind them most of them do let you through. Those hooligans that try and dice bikers - let them be on their way and rather fall back - let the accident happen way in front of you rather than being part of it.

When I am riding behind a car, I position myself so that I can see the driver's eyes in TWO mirrors - rear view and side mirror. That usually puts me 5-10 M behind the car, my wheel in line with the right hand corner of the car (i.e. right side escape route so watch your mirrors) or on the left hand corner (left side escape route).