Warning to London Taxicab Drivers.
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Too many drivers of London taxicabs are reckless. This fault is the outward evidence of an early phase in their motoring " careers," and the shorter its duration the better for all. We have neither the desire nor the inclination to attack motorcab drivers as a class, but we are impelled to sound a figurative note of warning. It is not merely the fussy old lady or gentleman who literally goes in fear and trembling of the reckless taxi-driver's ways: these nervous individuals do not use such vehieles, and it is the experienced motorist who instiactively finds himself clutching the interior fittings or jamming both feet hard against the front panel. This considerable element in traffic demoralization must be eliminated, and to that end has Sir Edward Henry gone ahead with the intended excess-speed-alarm plan. We dislike that method of control, and we believe the public will resent the involved restrictions when they feel their effects, but we are wholly in favour of severe treatment for the " black sheep " who cause sober-minded and well-behaved drivers to fall with them in public esteem. Hazardous exits from side streets; the unduly-rapid turning of corners; the sudden lockinground of the cab, at high speed, in traffic-covered thoroughfares, without adequate observation or intimation ; showy driving between refuges and vehicles travelling parallel to their own: failure to appreciate the advantage of gradual braking ; the employment of the engine's full power at times when this is clearly wrong : these are a. few of our charges against the reckless and thoughtless motorcab driver. The public, of course, suffers and is endangered. True, nolimly is forced to hire a motorcab all pedestrians are, none the less, subject to their vagaries. It is not " clever " to do the things we have named it is extremely foolish, and evidence of a poorly-developed brain. If some of the younger men, who are guilty of most of the offences against the canons of decent behaviour, were to spend time in studying motor anatomy, either from " real life" or a good text book, instead of lolling behind a cigarette with that outward air of nonchalant self-importance which stamps the worst eases of "swank " that we have in mind, they might spare themselves that rude awakening which is otherwise in store for them.