Dear Editor,

Part of the 23rd psalm reads: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Can I admit something? There’s one evil I fear very much these days — taxi drivers. If Jamaica had a ‘Person of the Year for 2019’ it would be the Jamaican taxi driver.

They have certainly made a deadly impression in the collective psyche of all well-thinking Jamaicans. There are countless family members of victims of road crashes left behind who are in mourning right now simply because a taxi driver couldn’t wait, couldn’t read a road sign, or just couldn’t care less that life, including his own, is precious and should be protected at all costs while behind a steering wheel.

It’s so insulting to hear the one reason they drive like this is because of the almighty dollar they always seem to have between their fingers as they fly past you just an inch from your wing mirror only to cut you off without a backward glance.

But why do these brutes get away with all these types of lawless stunt driving that’s so common on our roads? Because they simply can. And, secondly, the travelling public doesn’t mind it as long as they get to their destinations in one piece. Who cares really if a crash happens? As long as I’m not in it!

Now, before you say I’m being too harsh or insensitive, ask yourself the following: When in 2019 did ‘John Travelling Public’ boycott the taxis because of their bad driving habits and frequent crashes? It did not happen! Why? ‘John Travelling Public’ wants to get to work in a hurry.

We cannot have it both ways, people. It’s either our country is united on this issue of safe driving or we are not.

Now I’m not for one moment saying it’s just taxi drivers who drive badly here, but darn it they certainly top the list for 2019 for open disregard for traffic laws, in my estimation.

As deadly as these lawbreakers are they don’t seem to have any trouble acquiring potential victims in their four-wheeled wingless jets. And the traffic police are another joke I don’t get. You can’t miss them in Half-Way-Tree in their neon-coloured vests walking their beats, ticket books in hand, and traffic infractions by taxi men happening all around them. What gives here!

Is it true that many cops own taxis? Why can a taxi driver just ‘let off’ a passenger in the middle of the road when the light says green and Mr Policeman is just three feet away and there’s no reprimand for that?

To my mind, no traffic cop should come off duty without writing up every single page in his traffic ticket book for a violation from a taxi driver. The traffic infractions are just in our faces everyday. If every non-taxi driver had a dash camera we would be horrified of the frequent careless disregard for life that these taxi drivers exhibit on a daily basis. I’ve seen videos where they’re driving on the sidewalk just because patience isn’t a requirement for them anymore.

The short passage of Ecclesiastes 8:11 gives us some insight as to why taxi drivers, and any wrongdoer for that matter, act the way they do and why their mayhem could continue well into 2020: “When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.”

As Jamaica steps into a new year can we spare a thought for family members left behind from traffic crashes, especially those caused by taxi drivers? Can we also allow this thought to influence our driving going forward?

And whatever steps will be taken to alleviate the mayhem on our roads in 2020, can we all rally around it? Let’s put the brakes on bad driving.

Maurice “GrafixKing” Brownmaurice@tryplanbdesign.com