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 Taxi drivers 'team up' against motorist
    November 26 2009 at 11:54AM Get IOL on your
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A Table View man's car was damaged to the tune of R60 000 after a group of minibus taxi drivers teamed up against him in peak hour traffic and forced him off the road.

Steve O'Brian, who works at a prominent city salvage company, was also threatened and spat at after he had blocked a taxi when the driver threatened a woman who was driving behind O'Brian.

The incident happened in heavy peak hour traffic on Otto du Plessis Drive on Monday at 8am.

Taxis were forcing their way past the traffic by driving on the road shoulder inside the yellow line and forcing their way through the long line of vehicles that stretched back to the Bayside shopping centre, O'Brian said.
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"The woman behind me had blocked a taxi's way past on the road shoulder, so he pulled up next to her, leaned out of his window and knocked on her car's window," O'Brian said.

"When she looked at him, he pointed his hand at her like a gun, appearing to threaten that he would shoot her."

O'Brian, believing that the woman's life was in danger, then pulled his car in front of the taxi to allow the woman to get away.

"Suddenly, there were four or five empty taxis from Du Noon around us. One came up on the white line between the rows of cars on my right side and then another came up from the left on the dirt next to the road and rammed my car."

O'Brian's beloved Subaru WRX was scraped and dented from the rear fender to the front wheel arch.

Police have warned that although it was not prevalent behaviour, it was not uncommon for taxi drivers to team up and intimidate drivers. Such behaviour would however not be tolerated, said police spokesman Andre Traut.

This breaking news flash was supplied exclusively to iol.co.za by the news desk at our sister title, the Cape Argus.

For more about this story, carry on watching iol.co.za or click here to subscribe to the digital or print edition of the newspaper.

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Showing page 1 of 19 comment pages, 189 total comments
10 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
So the cops have roadblocks during peak traffic hours, pulling taxi's over and NOTHING is done about it. Eventually, we'll be killed of we don't give them space, if we don't do what they want us to do on the roads - because the Taxi Drivers RULE - We'll see about that. The cops in this country are useless, they endanger all of us on the roads when they have a sudden "emergency" - it's no wonder the taxi drivers think they can do the same.
10 Weeks ago R.C. wrote :
I'm a so called coloured South African with asian, black and white (alphabetical order for the dumb@ss' who think there's a preference there!!!) ancestry and I'm not racist towards any person (for those racists - black and white!!). The flagrant disregard for the traffic laws by most taxi drivers and the way they try to intimidate other users makes my blood boil. If everyone sticks to the rules of the road then NOBODY would have any issues. I step in when I see someone being mugged or being treated unfairly no matter the colour of their skin. Like I said before, if an unruly taxi driver or mugger tries that k@k with me he's got another thing coming. I think I'll use that route tomorrow and see what happens!!!
10 Weeks ago CS wrote :
Aaah, there's some LOGIC failure here.
Why would a man deliberately damage a R150K+ car just to 'get even' with a taxi?
Everyone knows that many taxi drivers feel that the rules don't apply to them, that they can intimidate their fellow motorists, and that they can get away with not doing things like getting licensed, roadworthied, paying fines etc etc etc etc.
Sorry, the rubbish excuse that 'we have to get to work' fails to convey that ALL OTHER users also have to get to work.
Why should I be held up on my journey because some idiot in a Hi-Ace wants to avoid a 5 minute queue?
Oh, and if we look at things logically, the guys in the cars are propbaly a much much bigger contribtor to the economy that some sad doris, rushing to get to her job at McDonalds or Checkers.
If I have to be at Point X at a certain time, I plan my departure accordingly - unlike some who feel that leaving at the last minute then taking a deathtrap taxi is justified because they 'have to get to work'.
As far as "Steve is a LIAR' and 'Anonymous ' think, maybe we should just accept the lawlessness for what it is, and a pound will get you ten that THEY will be the first idiots to bleat when they get a traffic fine, citing 'Yeah, but what about the taxis?'


10 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
i dont believe this,its all Liar ,a taxi driver show his gun in public.in million yrs it will never happen.try other things please
10 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
The guy who says he witnessed the incident can't even spell properly. anyways i heard a group of guys talking and saying that they will try make this guy's life hell and can even arrange to get faults witnesses to testify against steve. So you may be one of these false witnesses try to protect these criminal taxi drivers. Why can't our taxi drivers in this country be like other countries. Civilised!!!!. Sorry i forget its the police that are at fault that these idoitic taxi drivers act like animals. because the police cannot put there foot down and control these animals.
If the taxi drivers keep going like this our country would not have any hope.
10 Weeks ago I witnessed this incident, STEVE IS A LIAR wrote :
@ DirtyHairy, I dont know if you've ever seen the traffic from Parklands but the is no way that anyone can overtake cars, if you are in 1 lane, you are in 1 lane until you reach the city. As I said, I was driving in the lane next to Steve's car when the incident happened. Secondly, I was driving from Parklands, the taxis were directly behind Steve meaning I could see them. Thirdly your Steve lied again becasue he says the taxis were empty, yes the one he hit was empty BUT all the others around him had passengers. He just does not want to admit that he put other people's lives at risk but his stupidity.
10 Weeks ago Black Realist having last laugh wrote :
See how quick some of countrymen were thanking Steve the white messiah for dealing with this lazy, incompetent, dirty, illiterates, useless b*st*rds. Now that the truth has come out that he’s lying asshole.. Know one is reprimanding him for his reckless and criminal behaviour; instead some of them are rationalizing his actions. and have the nerve to say this is not about RACE. Nigga please
10 Weeks ago R.C. wrote :
Good for you Steve. I've done the same and I'll do it again. The taxi drivers can try their k@k with me. These cowards are gonna get they're backsides kicked or worse. I'm looking forward to it!!!
10 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
this is brilliant... first they gang up on an innocent female driver for standing up against their lawless behavior and now the guy that helped her got attacked and the same people that attacked him are making him out to be a liar... if the police wont do anything about the situation people will start acting like vigilantes in order to make the world a safer place for them to live in... i stand and admire the people who stand up against taxi's because of their lawless behavior... if the police weren't so afraid of actually doing some proper work instead of sitting around waiting for christmas time to make money for bonuses we would not be in this situation... i hope this is a wake up call to the government and our boys in blue... its funny how the police service has deteriorated over the past 20 years...
10 Weeks ago DirtyHairy wrote :
@The Idiot Liar: guy, the only way you could have followed thet taxi all the way from parklands is if you were behind it in another taxi cos you can't keep up. Your lies have cought up with you and your taxi driver brethrin.




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