QUÉBEC, le 4 mai 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - La Commission des transports du Québec suspend le permis d'un propriétaire de taxi ayant omis de faire vérifier et sceller son taximètre dans les délais fixés par la réglementation.

En conséquence, monsieur Francis Pelletier, faisant affaire sous le nom Taxi Moineau enr., de Chute-aux-Outardes, qui en est à un quatrième manquement, verra son permis de propriétaire de taxi numéro 9-Q-205575-001A, exploité dans l'agglomération Chute-aux-Outardes, suspendu pour une période de six semaines, soit du 4 juin au 15 juillet 2012 inclusivement.

Réglementation

En vertu du Règlement sur les services de transport par taxi, les titulaires de permis de propriétaire de taxi doivent faire vérifier et sceller leur taximètre à tous les six mois sous peine de sanction. Cette disposition vise à assurer que le tarif calculé par le taximètre est en tout temps conforme au tarif prescrit par la Commission.

La décision QPTC12-00097 peut être consultée sur le site Internet de la Commission à l'adresse suivante : www.ctq.gouv.qc.ca .

Source : Gouvernement du Québec

Nearly all of Montreal’s taxi drivers have been stiffed for a fare.

A quarter of them have been robbed outright. Over an eight-year period ending in 2008, an average of 57 Montreal cab drivers were victims of aggravated theft, Montreal police say. According to Statistics Canada, taxi driving is the job with the highest risk of being murdered while at work, with a rate about twice that of police officers. No wonder more than half of this city’s cab drivers say they feel unsafe on the job, according to a 2009 Montreal police survey of taxi drivers. Many of them are unsafe.

They are certainly not alone; taxi driving carries risks everywhere. In Toronto, according to a taxi-drivers association, as many as 70 per cent of drivers feel they are in physical danger on the job, and more than half say they have been physically attacked. In London, according to the British department of transport, three drivers a year are killed on the job. Drivers said in a 2007 survey there that they feel increasingly under attack.

It will be up to Quebec’s justice system to sort out what happened in Montreal during last weekend’s confrontation between cab driver Guercy Edmond and a group of young men – an incident caught on videos posted on YouTube showing the men stomping his vehicle and Edmond driving over a 23-year-old man in what he said was an act of panic to save himself.

It’s clear, however, that taxi driving is a dangerous occupation and that driver safety and security are questions with broad public importance and interest.

Several factors make cab driving dangerous: drivers work alone; they carry money; and their earnings are not high, which means they often accept passengers they might otherwise prefer not to.

In Montreal, the most dangerous time for cabbies is the hour after the bars close at 3 a.m., according to police. It was not a fluke that last weekend’s incident took place on St. Laurent Blvd. close to 4 a.m., and that it involved young people who allegedly had been drinking heavily.

While there are risks for drivers in every city, Montreal cabbies are more physically vulnerable than in many other places. In this city, passengers sit behind drivers with nothing to separate them – unlike in New York or Toronto, where the norm is a Plexiglas window shield between driver and passengers.

Toronto cabbies can also turn on flashing “Call-911” lights to indicate that they need help. Similar lights are being installed on Montreal taxis, though a spokesman for the local taxi industry notes that the lights aren’t visible in daytime.

Other potential safety options for taxis include in-cab closed-circuit television. In one British city, Sheffield, CCTV inside cabs led to a 72-per-cent reduction in incidents of threats and violence against drivers, according to the department of transport. However, the high cost of installing the cameras has worked as a deterrent to more widespread implementation. Sheffield city council paid $11,000 to put cameras in 33 cabs.

In 2009, Montreal driver Abraham Messun was stabbed by a passenger who was trying to rob him. Messun, who survived his injuries, did not have anything in his car that could have served as a protective measure. At the time, there were calls for public subsidies to help defray the costs of installing panic buttons and video security systems. (A spokesperson for a company that sells security systems for vehicles said a top-of-the-line system could run as high as $5,000.) But little has been heard on the taxi-security issue since then – until this past weekend’s dreadful incident.

In contrast to cab drivers, bus drivers have benefitted from an $8.5-million investment by the Société de transport de Montréal in cameras and flashing security lights inside buses. With a much smaller passenger pool than public transit, the cab industry isn’t likely to see the same kind of public investment in individual cabs. But that doesn’t mean the issue of driver safety can be ignored.

There might well be a way of sharing costs so that the financial burden of installing safety features doesn’t fall exclusively on drivers. Certainly an increase in fares to help cover the cost of improving driver security should not be out of the question; fares here are relatively low compared with other cities.

However the added costs are assigned, the taxi industry and government officials must try to find a solution. Taxis are an integral part of the city’s transportation network, and those who operate them deserve to work in safety.

Source: The Montreal Gazette

Plusieurs ont vu la vidéo montrant un jeune homme écrasé par un chauffeur de taxi. J'ose espérer qu'ils ont aussi vu les vidéos montrant plus de détails sur le contexte ayant mené à l'écrasement du jeune homme de 23 ans devant ses amis. Il y avait plusieurs personnes en train d'envoyer des coups de pieds sur le véhicule. Ça aussi, ça fait partie du drame.

Ce qui est arrivé au jeune est terrible et choquant. Or, si je me mets à la place de Guercy Edmond, le chauffeur de taxi maintenant accusé de voie de fait graves, conduite dangereuse causant des lésions, délit de fuite et voie de fait armé, qui voyait son auto être vandalisé, j'aurais paniqué. Je n'aurais pas été très «zen».

Tu fais quoi quand tu te retrouves dans une situation ou ton véhicule se fait prendre d'assaut par quelques personnes, en pleine rue? Tu prends le bâton de baseball que tu gardes dans ton coffre arrière? Tu montes tes vitres et tu restes dans l'auto? Tu laisses tomber ton égo, tu supplies les personnes d'arrêter de donner des coups à ton gagne-pain, tu fais abstraction d'une possible fatigue liée à 12 heures de travail semi-stérile et tu tentes de fuir sans écraser personne?

Imaginons si les seules caméras ayant filmé les événements étaient celles des amis de Benoît Kapelli, la personne écrasée? Il y aurait alors beaucoup moins de place pour un véritable capital de sympathie envers le chauffeur de taxi. De mon côté, j'ai un préjugé favorable envers les chauffeurs de taxi. Je crois qu'on ne célèbre pas assez leur travail.

Beaucoup exercent leur métier avec grâce et finesse. Pour les autres, le regard de mépris qu'on peut parfois percevoir est peut-être le miroir du traitement que la société a pour eux, non? C'est mon hypothèse.

Selon moi, le maire Tremblay devrait traiter les chauffeurs de taxi, comme il traite ses bixis -- les défendant et investissant en eux, en les voyant comme une valeur ajoutée à la ville. Ceux-ci devraient tous, après un certain nombre de temps de preuve de service intègre, avoir accès à l'Hôtel de Ville de Montréal, car si nous avons des ambassadeurs, ils ont font partie. Ils serpentent Montréal autant, sinon plus qu'un patrouilleur du SPVM.

En bref, je crois que Guercy a fui par crainte et qu'il n'a pas tenté d'utiliser son véhicule comme une arme, mais plutôt comme un bouclier. Vous avez vu l'état de son bouclier? Ce sont des pieds et des corps qui ont fait ça. Pas un carambolage.

Y aura t-il une véritable prise en considération du contexte ayant mené aux tristes événements de la nuit de samedi à dimanche dernier? Je comprends les chauffeurs qui ont manifesté leur indignation. Si plusieurs chauffeurs de taxi étaient là pour Guercy, ils sont aussi là parce que la judiciarisation de leur collègue fait éclipse aux conditions difficiles qu'ils vivent.

S'il est vrai que les chauffeurs de taxi, de par leur disponibilité et la nature de leur mandat, ont déjà sauvé bien des vies, qui sauve les chauffeurs de taxi?

Guercy n'aurait jamais dû être arrêté et passer une seule seconde en prison. Il aurait plutôt dû recevoir le traitement qu'on réserve à quelqu'un qui est agressé. La considération que son véhicule ait servi d'arme de crime me semble être une insinuation que les attaques perpétrées contre lui visait à le désarmer. Un véhicule de taxi, avant d'être une arme, pour son utilisateur, c'est avant tout, un passeport vers l'amélioration de sa condition. Toutefois, la précarité de l'emploi fait qu'au lieu d'être un bureau, le véhicule peut devenir une cage, lorsque le chauffeur est obligé de faire de 60 à 80 heures pour se sentir utile.

Il serait bien de s'intéresser aux réalités de ces professionnels.

En mon sens, la justice serait que Guercy Edmond puisse être considéré comme une victime ayant subit une série de formes de violence, tout en bénéficiant d'une enquête tenant compte non seulement de ses actes, mais du contexte de cette tragédie et aussi de l'absence d'antécédents judiciaires à son dossier.

Je souhaite que toutes les accusations sur Guercy tombent. Je souhaite aussi le prompt rétablissement de Benoît Kapelli, même si celui-ci s'est délibérément mis devant un véhicule en mouvement. Il a assez souffert. Ses amis qui l'ont incité à commettre l'irrationnel ont du faire des cauchemars.

Je souhaite que les conditions soient réunies afin de protéger, célébrer et reconnaître les vrais ambassadeurs de Montréal.

Respect pour les chauffeurs de taxi.

Source : Le Huffington Post Québec

Taxi drivers twice as likely as police to be victims of homicide while working

According to Statistics Canada, taxi drivers were twice as likely as police officers to be a victim of homicide while working (CBC)

A violent clash over the weekend between a Montreal taxi driver and his fares that resulted in a man being struck by the cab is an all-too common example of the many angry confrontations cabbies face on an almost daily basis, people in the profession say.

In fact, taxi drivers and police have the highest on-the-job risk of murder, according to a Statistics Canada study of occupation-related homicides from 2000 to 2010.

Of the two, the study says, taxi drivers were twice as likely as police officers to be a victim of homicide while working, which drivers say reflects the fact that they are seen as vulnerable targets.

"We are drivers, we work in the street. But I don't see any respect," says Abraham Mesfun, a Montreal cabbie who was stabbed twice in the chest and nearly died in a robbery attempt three years ago.

"Something has to be done," says Mesfun. "The industry has to be looked at. They have to look at how we can make it better so we can make a living like anyone else.

"Otherwise, anytime some incident like this happens, of course everyone will talk about it, and then suddenly it will disappear."

Unsafe hours

Attacks on Montreal cabbies peak in the hour after bars close, between 3 and 4 a.m., according to police figures. Violent robberies are at their lowest from 5 to 6 p.m., and also generally down between 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. Neither time of year nor weekend versus weekday appears to make a difference.

A 2009 Montreal police survey found that one-quarter of cab drivers in the city have been robbed and that 98 per cent of drivers have had passengers skip out on paying, practices that seem to be common in other large centres.

Toronto cab driver Khalil Talke, who was stabbed multiple times and had his throat slit last year, said he sympathizes with the accused Montreal cab driver, who is charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, hit and run and dangerous driving.

The hit and run that reportedly came after passengers disputed a fare and made racially charged comments.

Toronto cab driver Khalil Talke was stabbed multiple times and had his throat slit last year in an attack. (CBC)

“What else could he do. If I’m in his position what else could I do. Try to save my life and run away," Talke said.

"People they come to attack to you. That’s what happened to me. I survived."

According to iTaxiworkers Association, a Toronto organization that lobbies on behalf of cabbies, a recent survey of their members revealed that 70 per cent of drivers reported they felt in physical danger while working, 85 per cent said they had been verbally assaulted and over half said they had been physically assaulted or attacked.

Dress code

All Quebec taxi drivers have to be "properly dressed in clean clothing," on pain of a fine of up to $375. Montreal goes further, mandating male cabbies to wear "long trousers, a shirt or a jacket with sleeves, socks and shoes," while women must put on "slacks or a skirt, and a blouse or a jacket with sleeves." The exception is summertime: "Drivers may, from May 1 to Sept. 30 of every year, wear Bermuda shorts or polo shirts."

Sources: Quebec Taxi Transportation Regulation; Montreal Bylaw Concerning Taxi Transportation

Economic pressures

Montreal's bylaw allows taxi drivers to refuse service to anyone who appears intoxicated or drug-crazed, or in a situation where the cabbie believes their safety is at risk. But elsewhere in Quebec, provincial regulations only permit a driver to reject a fare if the destination is more than 50 kilometres outside the cabbie's licenced zone.

In Toronto, city bylaws mandate that a cabbies must pickup potential passengers unless the driver "reasonably believes" them to be unsafe or they are "unduly obnoxious or abusive."

But Jacob Leibovitch, executive director of iTaxiworkers Association, said economic pressures often force cab drivers into dangerous situations.

"One of the key factors is the income for drivers is so low that in many cases they're taking additional risks on the road to make the money they need to feed their families."

Leibovitch said these economic pressures force cabbies to make late night pickups in remote locations, pick up intoxicated fares, and hustle for a "fare you may not otherwise stop for if all things were equal."

The industry has made moves to improve passenger safety over the years by mounting video cameras in cars and installing flashing call-911 lights on the trunks.

As a result, robberies are down from an average 130 a year between 1986 and 1996 to about 55 a year from 2000 to 2008, the last year for which Montreal police have statistics.

But some drivers question the effectiveness of many of these measures.

"They got the picture of my attacker but [the camera] never prevented him from attacking me," Talke said.

There has been a push by some cab drivers for plexi-glass shields to be installed as a barrier between the front and back seat, as they are in New York City, for the safety of the driver.

But Leibovitch said that not all drivers in Toronto are on board with the idea as they feel it would put them at a competitive disadvantage with other transportation services.

"The shield is seen as a disincentive for people who want to take taxis," he says.

"There is a perception that it cuts the driver off from the customer and the interaction that might take place, which is generally seen by the drivers as one of the most important elements for attracting and retaining customers."

But both Talke and Mesfun said they support the barrier.

"I am definitely in favour for it – if it's a solution then yes, why not. Today, with the technology that we have, at daytime you could take it down, nighttime you could push it up, like a window. It may cost money, but money is worth the lives it is saving."

Source : cbc.ca

Les accusations portées contre Guercy Edmond ont relancé le débat sur les mesures de sécurité dans l'industrie du taxi. Or, le Bureau du taxi de Montréal recommande depuis 2010 diverses mesures pour améliorer la sécurité des chauffeurs.

Il réclame notamment l'installation de caméras de surveillance dans tous les taxis, ainsi que la possibilité d'exiger le paiement des courses à l'avance pour empêcher les clients de s'enfuir sans payer, un fléau fréquent la nuit.

«Outre le transmetteur radio et leur propre cellulaire, la très grande majorité des chauffeurs ne disposent d'aucun autre dispositif de sécurité, favorisant un environnement de travail peu sécuritaire», souligne le rapport du Bureau du taxi.

Plusieurs autres mesures y sont proposées, comme l'utilisation du paiement électronique, l'ajout d'un signal lumineux d'urgence sur le toit des taxis et une meilleure formation des chauffeurs sur les mesures de sécurité à prendre.

Dans son rapport, le Bureau du taxi indiquait que 57 vols sont signalés chaque année en moyenne. Ces chiffres sont en deçà de la réalité, croit toutefois le chauffeur Stanley Bastien, qui a organisé hier une manifestation de soutien pour son collègue accusé, Guercy Edmond. Selon lui, Montréal devrait aller plus loin encore et forcer l'installation de vitres protectrices dans les véhicules, comme cela se fait à New York et à Toronto.

Dans un sondage mené en 2010 auprès de 133 chauffeurs, le Bureau du taxi avait noté que les trois quarts de ses membres qui travaillent de nuit jugeaient leur métier «peu ou pas sécuritaire». Le rapport indique qu'il n'y aurait pas de «quartier chaud», mais plutôt des heures dangereuses: la quasi-totalité des vols survient entre 21h et 7h. La sortie des bars est particulièrement dangereuse.

Source : Lapresse.ca