April 2, 2007
Face It: To Partition Or Not To Partition
The NY Sun reports that doctors believes less people will suffer "craniofacial injuries" during cab accidents because many new cabs, such as the hybrid taxis, don't have the bullet-proof partitions. Drivers of hybrid cabs, especially luxury ones, have been opting for security cameras. Which could mean less business for plastic surgeons, who say that they see some people with "crushed noses, fractured cheekbones and eye sockets, and 'stellate,' or burst lacerations" after accidents.
Now, we always thought that one key to preventing serious injuries was being buckled up. But then we read this part of the article:
In accidents, yellow cab passengers wearing seatbelts are twice as likely to sustain serious or fatal injuries as seatbelt-wearing riders of other vehicles, according to a 2006 city-commissioned study by Brooklyn-based Schaller Consulting. This gap, which is even wider among non-restrained passengers, could be "linked to the presence of partitions in most medallion cabs, which introduce a very hard surface in an otherwise cushioned environment," the study said.Uh, so, even if you're buckled in, you're screwed? Bruce Schaller says partitions are "very real safety hazard," but many drivers like them because they do offer more protection from gunmen.Though crash rates for taxicabs are one-third less than those for other vehicles, 3,349 medallion taxi accidents involved injuries or fatalities in 2004, the most recent year for which data are available.
Among those seriously injured in an accident, 68% of yellow cab passengers experienced head or face trauma, compared to 49% of those riding in liveries and 35% in other vehicles, another Schaller Consulting study released last year showed.
And after reading that one woman's teeth were "filleted" in an accident, we'll be sure not to complain if a cab driver seems to be going slowly. And if we do complain, we'll wear a hockey mask.
Photograph by Marianne O'Leary on Flickr
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Yeah, I would think just buckling in would do the trick. The wife and I were in a cab accident years ago. We both hit the partition - she fractured her nose, and my lower teeth went through the skin below my lip. Needless to say, we buckle up every time now, even without Yo-Yo Ma's reminder.
Well now see that just sounds ......Smart ! Buckle up and you might avoid crushing your face against something that won't give inside the taxi !
If cabbies were allowed to not pick up black & latino fares, they wouldn't need partitions to protect them.
Just sayin'
the article states that even with seat belts your twice as likely to get facial injuries then other back seat passengers. That is scary. Are there shoulder belts in the back seat of taxi's?
And on top of it all, cabbies are allowed to tlk on cell phones instead of focusing on driving in city traffic.
Let me tell you something: the first thing the cabbie does after you peel your fractured face off the divider is tell the person on the other end of his cell phone ear piece that he'll call 'em back.
Rock on, suckers.
FEWER people. FEWER people, for crying out loud.
Anyone who doesn't wear a helmet with a chin guard in a taxi is an idiot. You're just asking to get your face broken.
Anyone who doesn't wear a helmet with a chin guard in a taxi is an idiot. You're just asking to get your face broken.
patrick-
Jen went to Columbia University, it's LESS.
what's hilarious is the NY Sun uses fewer and Jen changed it so it was gramatically incorrect. I'm beginning to think this is done on purpose.
It cracks me up that you "brilliants" focus on the grammar and miss the real error in the piece. The dividers are useless anyway as they are NOT bulletproof. Never have been. If somebody has a gun in the back of the cab, that plastic divider (with the perpetually open sliding door) isn't doing anything for the driver.
Fact checker - good point, but so long as people thing it's bulletproof, it may have a preventive effect.
"patrick-
Jen went to Columbia University, it's LESS."
Are you kidding? It's fewer people.
#3, Your an Assclown for posting that comment ! So It's OK to ban an entire percentage of the population because of a select group ? OK, Why not ban all the ugly people in the city from riding taxis ? How about banning all the gays and there "Alternative lifestyles" from taxis ? Hell since you feel the need to ban shit why not ban your self !
I sort of doubt the figures about taxi crashes being less likely than other crashes. Why then do many insurance companies refuse to insure taxis? Further, given the extremely aggressive driving styles by many New York cabbies, it must be that at least some cabbis are very accident prone.