Residents of the city
have several complaints against the errant local cabbies especially those related to overloading of passengers and overcharging, but now people are making a new and peculiar complaint against these cabbies.
These residents have complained that in some localities and areas of the city, the cabbies drive their taxis without switching on the headlights. These residents complained that they have to be extra cautious particularly in those areas where street lights have become dysfunctional or do not exist.
A resident of Oxford Hill complained that recently he had a narrow escape when a speeding taxi came from behind with the headlights switched off. Though he was not hit, the taxi brushed against a bag he was carrying and all the items in the bag were strewn on the road. “I took the Oxford Hill Road near the Old Fire Brigade where the street lights are dysfunctional. A speeding cabbie came from behind and hit my market bag and the materials were strewn all over the road,” he said angrily.
A resident of Kench’s Trace also complained that it was indeed a strange habit among the cabbies in the city to often switch off the headlights to save their batteries.
“They constantly toggle (on/off) the head light switch to signal an oncoming vehicle but they will not keep their head lights switched on,” he said.
The cabbies cannot even see the pedestrians especially where there were no street lights. By not using the headlights, these cabbies are putting the lives of pedestrians at stake, many residents have said. “There should be some clear cut guideline from the Traffic department that cabbies would be penalized for not using their headlights at night hours,” a resident from Kharmalki said. She is echoed by a resident of Boyce Road who said that many pedestrians have had narrow escapes in the past when speeding cabbies have brushed past them without their headlights switched on.
“Nowhere else in the country will you see this strange effort to save car batteries at the cost of human lives. This city is becoming infamous for all the wrong reasons,” a resident of Mawlai Umjaiur said.
Elderly residents, on the other hand, complain they often tend to get confused whether an oncoming vehicle was a two wheeler or a four wheeler.
“Once I saw a vehicle approaching with only one headlight on and I thought that it was perhaps a two wheeler. Only when the car came dangerously close to me that I realized that it was a four wheeler. I had to jump to one side to avoid being run over,” an elderly resident of Mawblei said.
A resident of 6th Furlong, Pynthorumkhrah said that generally a person crosses a road at night time with some calculations depending on whether the approaching vehicle is a two wheeler or a four wheeler. “I remember I have to rush to the other end since a two wheeler can adjust itself with pedestrians crossing a road but not a four wheeler,” he said.
Some residents have even complained that these vehicles with only one headlight in a working condition should not be allowed to ply on the road as they are nothing but a catastrophe waiting to strike. (By Rajib Roy)