At approximately 1:00 PM this afternoon in San Francisco's Financial District, a #45 Muni bus was making a left-hand turn from the one-way Kearny Boulevard to the one-way Sutter Street, in its slow and lumbering fashion, when it crashed into a City Cab vehicle that was trying to make the same turn in the inside lane.
Though the cab driver was yelling at the bus driver that it was all his fault, the truth was actually the opposite.
One of the serious rules of survival in San Francisco is that you should never play chicken with a Muni bus, either in a vehicle or as a pedestrian.
Though there are plenty of crummy San Francisco Muni bus drivers, as a class they are infinitely superior to their cabbie counterparts in this city, many of whom seem to be lunatics and/or terrible, unsafe drivers.
It took about ten minutes for the cab to move his vehicle away from the corner, while cars continued to try to take blind left turns onto Sutter Street, nearly plowing down pedestrians in the crosswalk along with bus riders trying to make an escape.
Thankfully, our bus driver (in the two photos above) was great, and helped the older passengers safely to the sidewalk before finally making his left turn and parking on Sutter. He deserves a commendation, while that crappy cab driver should be taken off the streets.
Of course I love hearing anyone say anything nice about a bus driver. The cab driver was probably brand new on the job and has already moved on to a new career as a security job. Cabbies used to be in line to eventually buy a cab medallion. When that happy day finally arrived, they would be set for life with what amounted to a healthy pension. For reasons that have never been clear to me, the waiting list was replaced with a lottery. Now the best a cabbie can hope for is whatever money he can make on any given day. Cab driving is dangerous, insecure and poorly paid. Anyone with prospects for work as a cashier at a convenience store is better off than a cabbie. Consequently, most cabbies are kind of dumb and crazy. This is great for dumb crazy people who formerly could only hope to find work with carnivals.
ReplyDeleteDear Jon: I have long considered bus drivers and nurses the undersung heroes and heroines of the world, responsible for the safety of thousands of people but without any corresponding social status. I've run into a few Bad Nurses and Bad Bus Drivers, but they tend to be the exception rather than the rule. As a non-driver, I salute you. And thanks for filling us in on the taxi driver mess.
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