Cab Safety
I don't drive. I could if I wanted to but I choose not to for different reasons -- ranging from having an immature allergic reaction to the idea of owning anything grown-up like a car or a house, to knowing that owning a car in Manila is an exercise in patience because of really horrid traffic jams and a lack of parking spaces, to admitting that I already contribute enough to global air pollution by smoking a pack a day so there's no need to contribute anymore through gas emissions, to knowing that my ADHD-addled brain might actually endanger someone's (even my own) life if I suddenly lose my driving train of thought in the middle of the road, to not being able to save enough money to buy a car because my major investment in this lifetime is a spiffy collection of shoes ...
So I take public transportation. I take the MRT when I can and I take cabs when I can't be bothered by crowded trains. I take a lot of cab rides. I take long cab rides from my city to other cities in Metro Manila. I take cab rides in the middle of the day, at night, and very late in the night.
In the absence of any clear procedures to ensure women's safety while taking cabs in this country, women do need to be creative about how to keep themselves and their friends safe.
I've encountered different types of cab drivers. Most of them are quiet and polite. But on off days, I get into a cab with a driver who wants to "get to know" me better. In the event of such cab drivers, I have a prepared Standard Operational Procedure. First, I never give them my real name. I come up with more generic names like Mary or Ning. And I always tell them I'm not based in Manila so when they ask for my number, I can tell them I don't have a number. Then I SMS a friend and tell him or her that the cab driver is "too friendly". Then I call up that friend (when Big Boy was still in Manila, he was my emergency number) and then I pretend that I'm talking to my boyfriend / husband, and that he's expecting to meet me soon. I make sure that the cab driver hears my end of the conversation. Then I ask the cab driver to drop me off at a very public place near where I'm supposed to go -- hotels are great for this (it is pretty easy to get another cab from a hotel and it supports the story that I'm not based in Manila). There have been some instances where I've felt so uncomfortable with a cab driver that I have asked him to drop me off at the first heavily populated place I spot.
The key here is to remain polite and unfazed. Never, ever piss off the person who has control of the wheel. And never ever let them smell your fear. Even though I would love nothing better than to rant against some cab driver who starts dropping hints that maybe I would be interested in stopping by some sleazy motel room with him, I understand that pissing him off would probably push him into becoming more aggressive -- or, heaven forbid, violent.
One of the other things that I do with most of my female friends is ask them to SMS me as soon as they get home -- so I'll know they made it home in one piece. If they don't SMS me within an hour after we say our goodbyes, I call them up. Call me paranoid, but I'd rather be insane than to have unsafe friends!
I suppose it's great that cellphones have penetrated the Philippine market in such a huge way. All of my friends have cellphones so it's easier to get hold of someone -- whether to check on their safety or to assure mine.
technorati tags: takebackthetech
So I take public transportation. I take the MRT when I can and I take cabs when I can't be bothered by crowded trains. I take a lot of cab rides. I take long cab rides from my city to other cities in Metro Manila. I take cab rides in the middle of the day, at night, and very late in the night.
In the absence of any clear procedures to ensure women's safety while taking cabs in this country, women do need to be creative about how to keep themselves and their friends safe.
I've encountered different types of cab drivers. Most of them are quiet and polite. But on off days, I get into a cab with a driver who wants to "get to know" me better. In the event of such cab drivers, I have a prepared Standard Operational Procedure. First, I never give them my real name. I come up with more generic names like Mary or Ning. And I always tell them I'm not based in Manila so when they ask for my number, I can tell them I don't have a number. Then I SMS a friend and tell him or her that the cab driver is "too friendly". Then I call up that friend (when Big Boy was still in Manila, he was my emergency number) and then I pretend that I'm talking to my boyfriend / husband, and that he's expecting to meet me soon. I make sure that the cab driver hears my end of the conversation. Then I ask the cab driver to drop me off at a very public place near where I'm supposed to go -- hotels are great for this (it is pretty easy to get another cab from a hotel and it supports the story that I'm not based in Manila). There have been some instances where I've felt so uncomfortable with a cab driver that I have asked him to drop me off at the first heavily populated place I spot.
The key here is to remain polite and unfazed. Never, ever piss off the person who has control of the wheel. And never ever let them smell your fear. Even though I would love nothing better than to rant against some cab driver who starts dropping hints that maybe I would be interested in stopping by some sleazy motel room with him, I understand that pissing him off would probably push him into becoming more aggressive -- or, heaven forbid, violent.
One of the other things that I do with most of my female friends is ask them to SMS me as soon as they get home -- so I'll know they made it home in one piece. If they don't SMS me within an hour after we say our goodbyes, I call them up. Call me paranoid, but I'd rather be insane than to have unsafe friends!
I suppose it's great that cellphones have penetrated the Philippine market in such a huge way. All of my friends have cellphones so it's easier to get hold of someone -- whether to check on their safety or to assure mine.
technorati tags: takebackthetech