How wide is your taxi? (Social Distancing)

[watty]

You always know something's dodgy when organisations put out emails/press releases on Fri evenings but this one is a peach!

How long are we in lockdown?  I just got the pearls of wisdom email from the NTA.  They're still putting out that 2m social distancing mantra.  So I went out and measured my taxi.

2.0m = social distancing.
0.68m = driver's headrest to front passenger headrest
0.96m = driver's headrest to rear passenger headrest on left side.
1.5m = the entire width of my taxi on the outside.

How the fukk am I supposed to keep 2m away from my passengers?  Make them sit in the boot? 

[Dr. Martin Gooter Bling]

it's all a loada bollocks.

[mercenary for hire]

You have to spend money to make money...
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/vw-transporter-shuttle-2015/24620871

[Theoneandonly]

Fit a screen and but them in the back.
I do think there is a difference in risk when you have your back to somebody, common sense would suggest this is so

[watty]

Not so sure about the 'back' thing.  I believe the most common vector is it gets on your hands and then you touch your face...  That's how the doctors and nursers got ill during the (blood-borne) Ebola crisis.  They didn't get infected directly from the patients - they infected themselves taking off their protective gear!

[mercenary for hire]

The two meter thing is a load of bollox.There is no safe distance in an enclosed space.There was an RTE report last week and it showed the distance that your spit travels when yer taking loud and it was more like 4/5 meters.

Just assume if yer going to work you are gonna get it.Screens are just an act of desperation IMO.The number of passengers wanting to get into a tiny space surrounded by plastic isn't very high.

They'd actually be safer in a rickshaw.

[watty]

Which reminds me.  Did you see the simulation of how far the virus spreads when someone coughs in a supermarket!

https://www.thesun.ie/news/5300604/video-cough-can-spread-cloud-coronavirus-across-supermarket-lingers/

[Theoneandonly]

The two meter thing is a load of bollox.There is no safe distance in an enclosed space.There was an RTE report last week and it showed the distance that your spit travels when yer taking loud and it was more like 4/5 meters.

Just assume if yer going to work you are gonna get it.Screens are just an act of desperation IMO.The number of passengers wanting to get into a tiny space surrounded by plastic isn't very high.

They'd actually be safer in a rickshaw.

I thought the same about screens, now I see therm everywhere and I hear shops are having them fitted with the expectation of re-opening in May, I reckon people will expect to see them as the rule rather than the exception, saying that I believe they are effective in protecting the driver, less so the passenger who is depending on the hygiene routines of the driver for their safety

[watty]

I wonder about those screens & their legality (in general & during an accident). 

I also wonder if it's a bit like getting an engineer's report when you turn out a WAT.  Is your screen 'legal' if you don't get all the paperwork done and tell your insurance company & the NTA that you've modified your taxi.  They ask that 'modification' question for every suitability already.

[dalymount]

The NTA don't give a fukk about your well-being, they are simply fulfilling their legal obligation to advise drivers. Don't think for one minute these people actually care about you. If they did, they would recommend to government that you should be de classified and not seemed to be essiential workers

[watty]

@dalymount: I agree with you.  I'm annoyed because they probably had an hour or two to waste this afternoon before they went home so they shoved out any ole shite.

I think there might also be legal and insurance implications because this would be considered official advise.  I'm not a lawyer but they're hungry b*stards who can get very creative when they smell money...   What if a passenger could somehow prove that you infected them and you ignored the official advice by working a taxi and not keeping the 2m distance?  Or you crashed with a passenger on-board?  Would it go against you because you were working in a taxi and not keeping the 2m distance?   You could even go a step further and maybe the NTA could fine you for working illegally because you didn't follow official advise.

[Shallowhal]

I've never hidden my hatred for the NTA....."it's all about the money" with them fuks and you're right about the sending out of that mail at close of business on Fri...cunts!!

The tone of the mail with regard to licence suspension and all their rules and regulations at a time when a lot of business including insurances companies try and work with their customers at a very uncertain time in our lives to help those who might be struggling financially but these shower of fuks are really doing nothing at all.....they couldn't give a shite about yis!!

[Octavia1]

All reminds me again...how did 15 bus drivers die in London and worked behind screens for years ....and they dont handle cash ....

[john m]

Fit a screen and but them in the back.
I do think there is a difference in risk when you have your back to somebody, common sense would suggest this is so

Only a truly hungry cunt would fit a non conforming screen endangering his passenger .If I saw a taxi with a home made screen I would report it to the Gards the taxithingey and the insurance .How irresponsible can you get treating your passengers with non conforming screens .

[dalymount]

Well the way I see this going, it's going to become cumpolsary to have these screens. Remenisint of when CC facilities were introduced by dispatcher firms. Look at it now it's cumpolsary to offer these facilities, and all because you allowed to happen. The same will happen with these fukin screens just because F/N , and Ebbs are going down this road they will become cumpolsary in the event of time