Last week, I had an appointment in Kampong Mentiri but my car was in the workshop. So instead of troubling my friends, I decided to contact a ‘taxi’ driver on a social media platform. The fact that it was BND5 made the whole arrangement a bargain.
The following day, the driver showed up 15 minutes late because he had been “very tired”.
Since it wasn’t urgent, I let it slide. A few moments into the trip, something didn’t feel right. He was veering off course quite often; it didn’t help that he had one eye on the tablet right next to the steering wheel.
Concerned, I asked if he could stop fiddling with the device and focus on the road. He dismissed my growing anxiety and said that as a full-time driver, he had to keep up with his clientele. He then turned on the radio and started singing, all the while driving at 140 kilometres per hour and tailgating every car that was in his way.
It didn’t matter that I kept begging him to quit speeding, reminding him that I didn’t mind being late for my appointment. I felt like the more fuss I made, the crazier the stunt he would pull next. One example was answering the phone while texting on his tablet, to show off how much of a multi-tasker he was.
When we finally arrived at the destination, I couldn’t wait to get out of the car and leave the whole experience behind. As he pulled out of the car park, I noticed that the treads on his tyres were low. We could have been in a horrible accident had we encountered another driver as crazy as he was en route! Looking back, I wonder how many illegal “taxi drivers” are out there. I can imagine they are popular because of how affordable their service is.
But if the majority of these drivers ignore road rules and regulations, like the one I had, it would be a blow to the efforts made in keeping motorists safe. As such, I would like to call on the authorities to clamp down on these unregistered drivers and force them to provide service above board.
Traumatised Passenger
