Four applications for automobile interior partitions and Associated Problems

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtrnEFTlWvk

Turtle or scorpion? The lesson of cab drivers and Newtown CT

Many are apparently oblivious of the fact that urban cab driving in the US is deadlier than combat. 5 to 10 times deadlier than being a cop. Do cab drivers have nothing to fear? Wrong, they have the most risk of murder. Yet in Boston and NYC they say use a bulletproof partition and don't carry a gun. Murders are hardly abated. Now it's like shooting a fish in a barrel. It is like the turtle versus the scorpion approach. I prefer to be a scorpion, not a turtle.

That school banned guns on the premises, the law banned that 20 year old from owning a handgun, the law required Mom to properly lock them. None of that prevented him. An armed custodian or kitchen worker, an armed Gym teacher or vice principal... that would help. If not... why the rush to the scene with heavily armed police? Remember, when seconds count, the police are minutes away.

Tom Glavin speaks about his partition impact injury in a taxi

"I guess it's a hard lesson to learn. I know probably every one of us are guilty at some point of time of getting in a cab in particular and not putting on a seat belt, but I will say I'm always diligent about it when I'm driving my own car, or in my own car, but probably neglectful like everybody else when I get in a cab."
The driver of the taxi, George Kovalonoks, 54, of Brooklyn, and the other vehicle, John Struble, 40, of West Milford, N.J., were both uninjured, police said.
Glavine's wife called him back immediately after the crash, and he called the Mets to tell them what happened. He was taken by ambulance to NYU Medical Center in Manhattan. He hopes to be fitted for temporary front teeth Friday and have the stitches removed Monday or Tuesday. It will be at least eight months before his mouth heals enough for him to get permanent replacement teeth.
"I actually kept the one that had fallen in my hand," he said. "The other one was halfway back in my mouth, I left it in there until I got to the hospital. They looked at it, tried to assess whether or not I could keep them. All the bone and whatnot I guess up there was battered and broken, so that's why they didn't keep the teeth."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1857827

Tom Glavin and Marc Summers, both rear seat occupants, have had a lot of pressure put on them to concede that the injury might have been prevented or less severe if seat belts had been worn. This argument, which is valid... ignores the very important fact that front seat occupants are clearly at risk of injury from contact with the partition... even with a belt on. Not all travel has rear seat occupants. All travel does involve at least one front seat occupant - the driver. Front seat occupants injuries and deaths, from partition impact, are devastating.

Automobile Interior Partition Use Objective

Automobile Interior Partition Use Objective

It is critical that it be established; just what is the objective of using a partition in a taxicab or a police cruiser?

We know that using a partition in a police cruiser has the objective of ‘keeping prisoners from access to the front seat area’. There is no concern about robbery and little concern that a frisked, disarmed, seat-belted prisoner might try to assault an armed police officer. The partition prevents prisoners from attacking the officer while seated in cruiser.

The original objective of using a partition in a taxicab was to keep drunk passengers from grabbing the steering wheel. “Those early rules also decreed there had to be a partition separating driver and passengers, to stop drunks from grabbing the wheel.”, according to Robert Hardman, a London, England reporter in a 2012 news story. http://www.iol.co.za/travel/world/europe/save-the-london-taxi-please-1.1438442

Partitions have served well to protect operators from rear seat interference in cruisers - if the prisoner has been properly restrained with seat belts after being disarmed and hand-cuffed. There are, however, about 300 incidents over ten years where a cruiser partition has failed to keep a prisoner from driving away with the cruiser. So, there are failures with the current cruiser partition design.

The objective was quietly changed, in 1968, when partitions were offered for taxi use in the US. Passengers were provided a switch that could prevent the driver from opening the window It is stated by Checker Motors in their patent application; “feature… offered in New York and Washington – “ lock with which the passenger can keep the movable panel closed,if he is apprehensive of being robbed or attacked by the driver.”

The New York Times, Saturday, August 17, 1968 - Page 37

I do not recall any rash of attacks by drivers against passengers.

The objective was changed, again, when in 1968, NYC started requiring cab owners to install partitions in their cabs. This time the stated objective was to protect the driver from bullets, hence the bullet-resistant panels.

The New York Times, Thursday January 30^th, 1969

Of course the likelihood of a rear seat occupant pointing a gun at the driver, either through the partition window, or around the partition, aiming at the side window to the front - is high. The partition disinclines assailants from using the less deadly weapon “the knife”. Partitions do NOTHING to preclude an attacker from using a gun to shoot the driver. Murder rates actually increase with partition use.

The New York Times,

Saturday, August 17, 1968 - Page 37

Taxi Partitions

            The Checker Motors Corporation, Kalamazoo, Mich., received a patent this week for its Safe-Guard Cab, which has a robbery preventing partition between the front and back seats.

            …one feature… offered in New York and Washington - a lock with which the passenger can keep the movable panel closed if he is apprehensive of being robbed or attacked by the driver.

New York Times

Thursday January 30^th, 1969

Cab Robberies Drop

A factor, owners believe, was the installation of partitions between the driver and passenger of all fleet owned taxicabs last September.

The 4,600 cabs owned by individuals were not required to install partitions because 60% of assaults and robberies occur between 9 P.M. and 6 A.M. and most owner/drivers tend to work during the day.

            The fleet owners are hopeful that the decline will continue and that more drivers will be attracted to the industry, particularly for work at night

Taxi Partition Injury Victim - Roseanne Davalle

In this episode a woman is treated for a facial lacerationj from hitting a partition in a NYC taxicab.
http://abc.go.com/watch/ny-med/SH55214626/VD55221851/episode-3