The Written Podcast: New York (Part 4) – Road Rage Eat Your Heart Out

In England, specifically in the capital city, London, we have Black Cabs. They are everywhere. And they are a tourist attraction. It’s considered an experience to have a ride in one of them, even more so when discovered that the drivers have to take an extremely difficult memory test for the entirety of London. They have to learn how to singlehandedly navigate throughout London with the aid of a satnav. You can’t simply become a Black Cab Driver; you have to earn it.

New York has the yellow cabs. And they are also everywhere. And they are also a tourist attraction themselves. It is also considered an experience to have a ride on one of them, but the experience is considerably different to that of the Black Cab one. Most notably is they don’t have to memorise anything, but are allowed to use satnavs to get to your required destination. There’s nothing wrong with that, because whilst the yellow cabs are generally operating within New York City, you do see them about in other places. Stepping out of JFK airport, there was a long line of yellow cabs waiting for passengers who’ve either booked ahead or are just out to catch one.

They saw I was hunting one down and a cab pulled up. The driver stepped out of the cab and whilst placing my suitcase in the back, asked me where I wished to go. “Hudson Hotel, fifty-eight street, please,” I replied. If I had put forward my request to a black cab driver, they would have simply nodded and got on with driving, but this yellow cab driver got out his phone, opened the maps app, and inserted my request, confirmed with me that it was correct and then offered me to enter the cab.

This is where the experience starts, and what an experience it was. They’re two types of road rage: Angry and forceful. My cab driver went through both set of emotions during my trip to my hotel, and let’s just say I was on the back seat, wide eyed, legitimately wondering if we’re going to crash. Throughout the journey, he was literally weaving in and out of traffic at any opportunity he gets, cutting as many people up as possible to keep in front and moving. There was also a shade of hypocrisy when he pointed up ahead and started criticising another driver’s style, even though he was doing exactly what the other person was doing. This only happened when the other cab cut him up, so he pulled alongside, wound his window down and started yelling at this other driver for cutting him up. Full on yelling. I wondered if he had forgotten he’d got someone in the back at this point, because I was holding on for dear life. My knuckles went white from gripping the back seat with all my strength.

In England, it is illegal to follow an emergency vehicle through traffic. Traffic has to get out of the way of these emergency vehicles, and so if someone decides to follow them down in the hopes of avoiding the jam, that’s illegal and punishable by receiving points on their license, and a fine of a couple hundred pounds. In America, we were met with a traffic jam. The driver immediately swerved out onto the hard shoulder and drove down it, passing everyone who was stuck within the jam. An ambulance, blearing its lights roared up behind us, and to get out of its way, the cab driver dived in between two other cars; not waiting for a cap to open up, literally forced his way in. How the heck we didn’t either hit another vehicle or get hit by another vehicle, must have been a miracle.

The Ambulance then rushed passed us, and the driver pulled out behind it and started following it down. When he was driving on the hard shoulder before following the ambulance, I was worried about another vehicle pulling out in front of us in the hopes of doing the same, but luckily that didn’t happen. With the ambulance in front of us – and is should be noted he was driving close behind so no one could cut him up in the hopes of following it down as well – I did relax a little bit knowing no one could cut us up, but relax only a little bit, because we were going down the hard shoulder right behind an ambulance, something that’s considered to be highly illegal over here in England. It should also be noted that we were literally the only vehicle who done this, so of course there was a large part of me wondering if we were going to be get pulled over. Thankfully that didn’t happen, and I dare not think what would’ve happened if a Police officer did pull us over.

I’ve been a passenger to many lunatic drivers, but none can compete with the insanity of this yellow cab driver. It takes a lot to scare me as a passenger; I’m usually pretty calm, but he worried me. I was a foreign person, innocently taking a holiday in New York, so unintentionally finding myself stuck between a law breaker and a Police Officer is not how I had pictured my holiday going.

I entered New York City via a tunnel and came out of the other side with a spectacular view of the many skyscrapers, including the two most famous, the Empire State Building, and the newly constructed Freedom Tower. For a brief moment I had forgotten about the insane driving by taking in the epic view of New York City, only to then be thrown back into my car ride when the driver thrusted the cab to one side, pushing me up against the door.

I made it to my hotel in one piece. A little shaken, but in one piece. It’s customary to tip up to and including 15% of the total amount, and you’d be seen as an offender if you go against this custom unless you can defend yourself. If a black cab driver had requested a tip for that driving, I’d told him to forget it. However, being someone who really didn’t want to get on the wrong side of someone on my first day, I happily tipped him just so he could get back in his cab and drive away. After seeing another cab driver do the same as my one, I did wonder if every cab driver drove in the same style, and if they did, that’s something I’d have to prepare myself for, or attempt to walk as much as I can to my destinations.

In the end, I was just happy to get to my hotel, get checked in and sprawl out on my bed for a few minutes to gather myself together after a long flight and a hectic car ride. I was finally in New York. I finally made it to another country, and I was on my own. Let my holiday officially begin.

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ARTICLE…