I visited New York before, and I agree with you, Kat! Most of Thai taxi drivers don't have any senses of safetiness and responsibilities. They need to go back to driving schools again. Thai DMV also made them so easy to get driver licenses.

FYI: there are more than 100,000 taxies in BKK alone. I am feeling soooo safe!

The ridiculously high number of taxis is part of the problem. With 3 or 4 taxis replacing every tuk-tuk that's disappeared off the streets in the last decade, it's meant that it has become a more and more cutthroat industry - sometimes literally! Each taxi is fighting for a smaller and smaller market, as Thais but more and more private cars and the new improved public transport system (BTS and subway) have taken away more potential customers. To see the surplus of taxis, one just has to go out to Mawchit early morning and try counting 'em! They're lucky if they see a fare for 3 or 4 hours I reckon, so i actually feel v. sorry for the majority of them.

The only sensible solution is to start reducing the number, which is not going to be popular, but it would start to leave the remainder a chance of a decent wage. Trouble is, it's not going to happen any time before the upcoming elections, as Numero Uno tries to furiusly court their votes (and influence on other voters) by dangling carrots, like loans to buy their own taxis and scholarships for their kids to study overseas, in front of their noses.

Yes, I agree with all of you. And the oversupply issue is the first line of defense. There are too many taxis. So Bkk should do a survival of the fittest cut. Those who know the city, have a good safety record, etc., should receive incentives to make renewal of their licenses easier.

Those who do not, should be weeded out.

Ned: I know what you mean about emergency response. That is a whole other thread in itself. I don't know what scares me more - getting into an accident here or getting "rescued" by the emergency response. Sometimes I'm baffled as to how a city can have world class shopping malls before they have basic emergency response services.

Come to think of it, maybe emergency response and taxi safety should be something people of BKK should take up with the new governor.

I think the public and street safety are already on the new BKK governor's agenda. I would be glad if he can do everything in his power to solve the City problems. BKK problems are serious and need to be fixed promptly, but there are so many of them. Four years may not be enough for him (in fact, BKK needs at least 100 years to fix all its problems).

Well, let's hope that our new guy can do a lot while he's in the office.