I was in a cab heading out to the airport pre-dawn this AM. It was a pleasant drive which made me remember other drives that weren’t so pleasant.
Here’s the question, when you are in a cab and the driver is overly aggressive - too fast, too assertive, too daring, etc, do you ever speak up and suggest that a slower speed and fewer lane changes is just fine as far as you are concerned? I have no problem suggesting the best route, even when the driver clearly has something else in mind. But, if I’m a bit nervous about the “quality” of the driving, I can rarely bring myself to suggest a slower speed or indicate that I’m not comfortable with the way other drivers are being cut off, etc. Anyone else ever experience this? How do you handle the situation in which you don’t like or maybe even don’t feel 100% safe with a driver because of the agressiveness of the driving?
When I was on my way to hospital with my first, it was the driver’s first day. Most terrifying 5 minutes ever! We finally had to tell him, “the red ones mean stop.”
Yes, speak up. Just tell them you get motion sickness. An buckle up:)
I really like the motion sickness idea. That is something I can see myself saying without worrying about offending the driver’s notion of his driving ability. The last thing I wanted to do was offend an already too aggressive personality! Thank goodness I haven’t had to deal with the cell phone or TV(!) scenario. I think I’m lucky with not having encountered cell phone addicted drivers. Thanks for the support!
Talk about nervous, I was just in nyc and asked to go to a hotel on Central Park South and the cabbie had to ask me where that was and I was on the upper east side at the time.
Funny, I just got one of these rides a couple of days ago. The guy was driving pretty fast, and he just couldn’t manage to stay in the lanes, he was all over the place. Tailgating, sudden stops. I texted my husband, that at least we were in a big vehicle, and there wasn’t much traffic on the road. I gave him directions that got him off the freeway a little earlier, and didn’t let him drive me down my driveway (steep, difficult to turn around in a big vehicle), because I knew he would have struggled with that. I didn’t know how to tell the guy to stop being such a crappy driver, how do you do that?
Maybe I’ll use that motion sickness idea next time. I have told drivers that I’m not in a big hurry, no need to rush. I hate when people talk to you constantly, and keep turning around to do so. I quit talking to them, so they don’t turn around. The best idea for me is to use a towncar service that I use often, they are all good, smooth drivers.
I often take a cab in NYC (or Uber now). I have no problem in telling the driver the route I want to take and if he is driving too fast I would tell him to slow down. I try to say it as friendly as possible. I’ve never had an issue with the driver over it.