Taxi companies increasing safety measures

Some Winnipeg taxis are now able to signal for help when drivers are in distress.

By the end of the year all 226 Unicity Taxi cabs will have roof top advertising that includes a flashing help sign that reads “Call 911″.

"Essentially what you have is an amber light in the front and a red light on the back," says advertising consultant Darryl Walsh from Triallo Communication Media.

"They are strobe lights and they flash. We’re also installing an alarm system, a shriek alarm," says Walsh.

The security device was added after a spate of attacks against Winnipeg cabbies in the last month.

The flashing lights are only visible at night, but the company installing them says improvements can be made.

"We’ll get them brighter. I mean, it’s probably not going to end all taxi robberies but we think it’s certainly going to curb it," says Walsh.

Duffy’s Taxi manager Phil Walding says his company is not considering the roof top signs at this time, but it is considering other safety measures. For example, adding "kill switches" to help prevent auto theft and adopting a system that allows police dispatchers to track cabs.

He says he’s reluctant to install full shields to protect drivers because it could hurt business, limiting the number of passengers a driver can carry, but he insists the company is doing all it can to protect drivers.

"Our dispatchers are instructed to not push back door pick-ups," says Walding.

The Taxicab Board will hear more suggestions from the industry, as well as input from Winnipeg Police, at it’s next board meeting later this month.