Paving the road towards anarchy

There will be many people reading today’s newspaper who will have reacted with derision, or even laughter, at the news that the taxi industry now wants lanes on our roads dedicated solely to its vehicles.

The cynics will say one of two things: They already own the road, what more can they want? Or: They already have territory they consider they own: It’s called the emergency lane on the highway or the pedestrian walkways in suburbia….

Seriously, though – we have to take the taxi industry seriously because they are such a crucial part of the mass transport system which ensures that millions of commuters get to where they want to go every day. Until we have a proper, safe mass transit system – and our buses and trains don’t come close – then taxis are the best solution.

However, that does not entitle them to think they are above the law. And that is the nub of the latest demands: that they violate the rights of other citizens by threatening, and causing, chaos to get their own way.

And, no one in authority does anything about it, so it continues.

So, effectively, taxis have already expropriated, without compensation to long-suffering society, the road to anarchy.

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