7 trips in a day are mandatory, says a driver
Senior traffic officials say that there has not been a sporadic jump in rash driving by call taxi drivers
Chennai: It’s midnight and outside a brightly lit IT park in Velachery, a vehicle zooms out with drowsy eyed IT employees, in a cloud of dust as another zooms in with a new set of replacements. The sight is the same outside every IT park in the city where drivers and occupants fight sleep and court death every night. In the wee hours of Wednesday a similar vehicle turned into a death trap for three BPO employees as its driver dozed off at the wheels. Long shifts of work, less profits and a policy force drivers to make frequent trips.
S. Manikandan, an IT employee and a regular user of cabs, says, “During night shifts I fear the driver falling asleep as the driver is usually sleeping in the cab when we enter. Talking to the driver and keeping a watch on the traffic has kept it safe so far.” Adding, “Nowadays all new cabs come with GPS and are monitored by our company. If they cross the speed limit it is registered. Even in the absence of GPS we can complain to our higher-ups.”
Drivers say that the ones who are booked by companies work under tremendous pressure. V. Ashvin, a driver for the last seven years, says, “I used to work for a company but the job being stressful and poorly paid I quit after two years. Only some company’s insist on limited number of trips by a driver. One trip usually takes two hours, and seven trips in a day are mandatory. And if the driver is not able to complete the trip he is penalized. Leave is restricted too.” A driver usually earns about Rs12,000.
A policeman at a checkpoint near Guindy says, “These drivers often work in continuous shifts which is stressful. Our checks are restricted to drunken driving and we do not monitor if they are asleep or not.” Senior traffic officials say that there has not been a sporadic jump in rash driving by call taxi drivers. “We book them if we catch them but in general we have not seen them driving rashly,” said a senior official.
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