Tales From Taxi World: Agoraphobia
Jann Burner
May 06, 2007
There is a strange thing that happens to taxi drivers who drive too many years and put too many strange chemicals into their system. Nobody talks about it but it is more common than you, as a passenger, would want to believe. It results in drivers who will simply not pick up at certain locations, like the airport. Or drivers who will avoid freeways at all costs or drivers who are ah...resistant to cross bridges. The next time you are in a cab and are crossing a bridge or zooming along a freeway and you notice the driver fidgeting unnecessarily or speeding up and then slowing down for no reason, be advised that there is quite probably a mighty battle transpiring in the front seat of your vehicle and both the combatants have their hands upon the wheel that controls your destiny. I am talking agoraphobia.
One driver confided to me that he had such a problem one time. He was returning from the airport with an elderly couple in the rear of his vehicle, when "it" came over him. Where it comes from and where it goes is a mystery, but once present...it can be a serious problem. Well, this afternoon, my friend was in its viscous grasp! He simply couldn't go on. His entire life seemed to come to this point. His heart was pounding and he was sweating and he just knew he was going to die in the next few seconds and he didn't want it to be...in a taxicab. Finally, as this phobic reaction built to a crescendo, he became convinced that he was about to turn into...a bear; a big violent, flesh ripping, grizzly bear. Sounds crazy, but there it was.
With his last speck of human compassion he pulled off the freeway and skidded to a stop in the gravel, just south of Candlestick Park, south of San Francisco, where it runs by the bay. He turned to his passengers and said in a loud, firm voice, "QUICK! RUN FOR THE WATER, BEARS CAN'T SWIM!"
The couple in the rear seat looked at him with big eyes. They were from Europe and their English wasn't too good.
"What do you say?"
But, by then, the moment had passed, the reaction had peaked and the driver suddenly felt quite fine again. He turned back onto the freeway and slowly accelerated. "Oh--never mind." he said.
One driver confided to me that he had such a problem one time. He was returning from the airport with an elderly couple in the rear of his vehicle, when "it" came over him. Where it comes from and where it goes is a mystery, but once present...it can be a serious problem. Well, this afternoon, my friend was in its viscous grasp! He simply couldn't go on. His entire life seemed to come to this point. His heart was pounding and he was sweating and he just knew he was going to die in the next few seconds and he didn't want it to be...in a taxicab. Finally, as this phobic reaction built to a crescendo, he became convinced that he was about to turn into...a bear; a big violent, flesh ripping, grizzly bear. Sounds crazy, but there it was.
With his last speck of human compassion he pulled off the freeway and skidded to a stop in the gravel, just south of Candlestick Park, south of San Francisco, where it runs by the bay. He turned to his passengers and said in a loud, firm voice, "QUICK! RUN FOR THE WATER, BEARS CAN'T SWIM!"
The couple in the rear seat looked at him with big eyes. They were from Europe and their English wasn't too good.
"What do you say?"
But, by then, the moment had passed, the reaction had peaked and the driver suddenly felt quite fine again. He turned back onto the freeway and slowly accelerated. "Oh--never mind." he said.