Uruguay is awakening to community action and concern in the age of email, Facebook et al, and an example of this new awareness is the call to boicot taxis on Friday, Oct.30, in protest against the death of two young people in two separate incidents in which taxi drivers disregarded stop signs in Montevideo, ultimately causing the deaths of one passenger, in one accident, and of a young mother of two who was mowed off the sidewalk in another.
A third young woman has been in a coma for almost a month. The bitter irony is that her boyfriend, when leaving a nightclub, had decided to act responsibly and leave behind his own car, in favor of a taxi, because he had drunk alcohol that night. This is particularly ironic because the awareness of drunk driving being a killer is not something very ingrained in Uruguayan society, so it is particularly sad to hear of this kid dying as a result of such responsible behaviour, uncharacteristic of Uruguayan society.
Hence, the call to not take taxis on Friday. I don't know if the blame here is 100% on the taxi trade. Frankly, everyone drives like mad, especially in Montevideo, although I can say that in Punta del Este taxis show particular disregard for safety, speed limits and traffic rules in general. So although they are not the only one to blame in a society where safety is not such a great priority for anyone, I would personally participate in this boicot if only to call attention to the matter, and also to taxi drivers.
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