Taxi talk: Driving tired a hazard of the job

Beijing often sees traffic accidents caused by tired drivers. What do you think about tired driving and how can it be prevented?

Normally, if you’ve been behind the wheel for more than four hours, that’s considered driving tired. Taxi drivers usually have to drive the whole day, at least eight hours, only having a very short break in the middle. Some cabbies even drive nonstop for 18 hours because, frankly, for us time is money.

I don’t have one day off all year, I work during New Year’s Eve and Spring Festival. My way to fight tiredness – although it may be stupid – is to pat my head and bite my finger.

For what I earn each month, I have to give 5,175 yuan to the company and spend around 5,000 yuan on fuel. I also pay a 1,300-yuan fuel subsidy. All this means I only earn 3,000 to 4,000 a month. To earn more, I have no choice but to drive more hours.

The only way to prevent tired driving is for taxi companies to reduce the amount they ask cabbies to pay and for the government to leave the fuel subsidy unchanged.

Want the inside track from METRO’s talkative taxi driver Dou Keying? Send questions to metrobeijing@chinadaily.com.cn.