Originally Posted by Diabo
If you're the only passenger, it's considered impolite to sit in the back in The Netherlands. You're supposed to sit in front and chat about football/taxes/girls/etc. with the driver.
Totally different in Portugal, England, many cities in the US, and all the other places where the drivers hide behind bulletproof glass constructions.
Was in a cab from Cayenne (French Guyana) to Rochambeau Airport to catch an evening flight to ORY. The cabby started driving slower and slower and hit the breaks every time a car approached with the headlights aimed at us. Turned out the driver was night-blind.
We swapped seats, I drove the taxi to the airport, and negotiated a huge discount off the metered fare.
I wonder if he managed to get back home. There were no arriving flights with passengers to drive him.
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edit: The flight was CAY-PBM, not CAY-ORY. It was many brain cells ago...
I'm pretty sure the screens in the limos aren't bullet proof- they are more privacy screens for the comfort of the passenger, especially in NYC, where the passenger will often be a businessman/woman/lawyer, who is doing work in the backseat, or is making phonecalls.
*edit- stupid me, we weren't talking about limos, we were talking about taxis- Yes, in taxis the partitions are bullet proof to protect the driver- and yes, they are required by law.