Technology must be mandatory in all taxis for safe travel!

Stating that situations such as traffic stress, intensity of working hours, lack of rest hours, lack of social security, and customer bullying and violence that have come to the fore recently come to the fore in the safety of the taxi profession, Asst. Prof. Gamze Kağan said that security can be increased by taking advantage of the opportunities of developing technology and that trainings and awareness-raising programs should be made for taxi drivers to use technological applications effectively and efficiently.

"Situations such as customer bullying/violence, which have come to the fore recently, come to the fore"

Reminding that the issue of the safety of taxi drivers came to the fore after the incident in İzmir recently, Asst. Prof. Gamze Kağan stated that "In the safety of the taxi profession in the transportation sector, situations such as traffic stress, intensity of working hours, lack of rest hours, lack of social security and customer bullying/violence that have come to the fore recently come to the fore."

Pointing out the importance of including taxi drivers in the social security system, Asst. Prof. Prof. Gamze Kağan said, "In this way, the occupational safety rights of taxi drivers will be legally protectable. However, it is important to tighten inspections and impose sanctions to prevent unregistered work."

"Security can be increased by taking advantage of the opportunities of developing technology"

Some of the health and safety hazards that drivers face during their work such as stress, violence, noise, vibration, working alone, driving while tired and sleepless. Asst. Prof. Gamze Kağan expressed that "The issue of violence is an important agenda item. At this point, security can be increased by taking advantage of the opportunities of developing technology."

What role can technological advances play in improving the safety of taxi drivers?

Explaining that the safety of taxi drivers can be carried out with the existing Commercial Taxi Security System (TTGS), Dr. Kağan stated that "It will be an important step to make the use of the security and monitoring system, which consists of the vehicle tracking system, panic button and in-vehicle camera system, which is planned to be installed in commercial taxis and will be mandatory for occupational safety in the taxi sector. In this way, it will be possible to transfer vehicle location information, information about the status and course of the vehicle to the relevant units with a mobile device in taxis, and in case of any negative event, it will be possible to activate the panic button and to monitor it from the in-vehicle camera system so that the nearest aid teams related to health and safety can intervene."

"Accidents caused by human error on highways can also be reduced with technological developments"

Stating that accidents caused by human error on highways can also be reduced with technological developments, Asst. Prof. Gamze Kağan said, "The use of driving safety technologies used in new model cars such as cruise control, collision warning, lane warning, lane correction, reversing camera, parking sensors, emergency braking can be made mandatory in taxis. Another technological development is that a safer and more predictable environment can be created with connected vehicles. This technology, which adds a new dimension to the communication of vehicles with their environment, can be connected between vehicles and their positions, speeds and change information can be shared with each other, allowing vehicles to move safely alone or in groups.

"Trainings should be held for the effective and efficient use of technological applications"

Pointing out the importance of providing trainings on protecting taxi drivers against dangerous people as well as trainings on technological applications, Asst. Prof. Gamze Kağan said that "To ensure the occupational safety rights of taxi drivers, it is important to integrate their status into the social security system with worker and premium incentives, and then to make it a legal obligation to have them in all taxis in terms of occupational safety by taking advantage of the developing technology. In addition, it is necessary to provide trainings and awareness-raising programs to taxi drivers on this issue to use these technological applications effectively and efficiently."

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)