Columnist Jeff German: Taxi board puts driver safety last

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

If you were looking to waste some time, you should have attended Tuesday morning's Taxicab Authority Board meeting.

That's what the do-nothing state body did in the latest installment of its feeble effort to protect Las Vegas cabbies.

The five-member board spent 90 minutes listening to more moaning from greedy company owners and getting the results of a $16,000 UNLV study that told them what they already knew -- that a majority of drivers want cameras in cabs and are craving more protection.

The board knew this seven months ago when it put off a decision to order the installation of cameras and voted for the company-financed study at the behest of the bellyaching owners.

When Tuesday's dog and pony show ended, the board did what we've come to expect of it -- nothing. A vote on whether to install cameras won't come until Oct. 26. The owners, as of Tuesday, were still haggling with the board over the language of a new watered-down proposal that allows companies to install either still or video cameras.

One thing Chairman Richard Land did do at the meeting was give the owners plenty of time to kiss up to the board and berate me for questioning the snail's pace at which the board is moving.

The board's indecisiveness has come at a time when drivers are being robbed and murdered on the streets with more regularity.

Amazingly, a Nellis Cab executive pleaded with the board to do as much research as possible before ordering cameras in cabs. This is the company that is still suffering from the loss of Pairoj Chitprasart, who died after being doused with gasoline in an Aug. 20 robbery attempt.

Yellow Checker Star honcho Bill Shranko, who made it clear he's not a fan of this column, and Lucky Cab owner Jason Awad, who bankrolled the meaningless study, also urged the board to take its time and not bow to media pressure.

This strategy of delay has been very effective for the politically connected owners. As long as the board is slow to act, the owners don't have to shell out the money to pay for the cameras -- about $700 to $1,000 per cab.

Awad even tried to steer the board off course at this late hour by suggesting that companies should have a choice of installing either cameras or glass shields in their cabs.

A better idea would be to order the companies to install both cameras and shields to give the drivers the best possible protection. But that would cause the owners to cry foul from the highest mountain top and require something from this board we haven't seen -- courage.

After the hearing, Awad made a startling admission that confirmed the prediction made here months ago. He said the study, done by UNLV professor Keith Schwer, was a "waste of money." It wasn't the kind of "in-depth" research needed to shed light on the safety issue.

So not only was Tuesday's board meeting a waste of time, but so were the past seven months.

Now here's the kicker.

Even if the Taxicab Authority Board finally takes action a month from now, the companies, according to the proposed regulation, will have until April 1 to install cameras.

That's six more months for the do-nothing board to waste.