Steve Crowell
P.O. Box 303
Eastham, MA 02642
Boston Police Department
Police Commissioner William B. Evans
Schroeder Plaza
Boston, MA 02120
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Dear Commissioner Evans,
I am writing to submit a complaint about the dangerous interior
partitions compromising passenger safety in Boston Taxis. Many people have died
and thousands have suffered facial lacerations, traumatic brain injury and
worse.
The notion that criminals are too stupid to circumvent the
partition by merely reaching around the “B” pillar and aiming a gun through a
side window, is absurd. This brainchild of the New York City Taxi &
Limousine Commission insults the intelligence of all taxi occupants.
The
adversarial atmosphere created by the installation of the partition is harmful
to good customer relations. If I find that I have someone I need a partition
for, while cab driving, my first obligation is to get them out of the cab.
Many years ago I prompted the USDOT to issue what they
called a letter of warning to the Boston Police Department Hackney Carriage
Division regarding the approval at taxi inspection of taxis without seat belts
or head restraints. In that letter they ‘recommended consideration of
compliance’ with federal laws.
I, also, am issuing a letter of warning to the Boston Police
Department. I will see Boston taxis brought into compliance with federal
standards, or I will die trying. I started this endeavor, decades ago and have
no intention of quitting, ever.
The Boston Police Department Hackney Carriage Division once
conducted a secret investigation of me regarding this matter. It was revealed
in a letter from the Carriage Unit to Dr. Ronald Malt. That letter included a
claim that partitions never hurt anyone. I was rear-ended using a Bow Street
Partition. My spine dented the steel edge of the bend in the partition. The
misery inflicted on me from back troubles can be multiplied by thousands of cab
drivers with the same problems.
Partition window edges and steel covering the back of the
front seats constitute severe risk to occupant safety. The vertical angle of
the upper glazing section is the worst possible angle for reflections of
sunlight, headlights and streetlights.
So, rather than the Boston Police Department Hackney
Carriage Division staying in the business of engineering partition designs, a
field of endeavor the taxi bureau is totally unqualified for, why not require
removal of all partitions which do not comply with federal standards? While you
are at it, why not make (Federally complying) partition use in taxis, optional?
Thank you,
Steve Crowell
CC: Maura Healy, Boston Globe, Boston Herald
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