NYC taxi driver fined over swearing

[Guest]

NEW YORK - The days of the cursing cabbie may be over.

A New York City cab driver has been fined $1,000 for launching a foul-mouthed tirade at another cabbie.

The confrontation occurred Oct. 8, 2007, on the West Side of Manhattan when neither driver had a passenger.

Driver Malik Rizwan honked at fellow cabbie Zbigniew Sobczak after Sobszak cut him off, prompting Sobszak to jump out of his cab and use a vulgarity repeatedly.

Rizwan called the police and accused Sobczak of assault.

A city administrative law judge found Sobczak guilty of verbal harassment, not assault, and recommended a $350 fine.

But Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman Matthew Daus, in a ruling last Friday, increased the penalty to $1,000 and a 30-day suspension.

There was a time when cab drivers were given more leeway with language.

A 1982 legal decision in a case called TLC vs. Baudin found that a "driver's use of profanity during a fight with a pedestrian was not misconduct given cognizance to the realities of life in New York City."

But Daus, in a letter to Sobczak, said, "To the extent that decisions issued before my tenure, such as TLC vs. Baudin, may be read to overrule the penalty of license revocation for verbal harassment or abuse, I would override those decisions."

"The city has changed over the years," Daus said in an interview Wednesday. "It's become more civil. ... The days when drivers can curse at each other are over in my opinion."

...of all the things considered to be illegal, this can't be serious! are law-makers getting dumber??

with that said, is it still illegal to spit on the sidewalk in yonkers??? ...another stupid law

[Guest MVFD334]

I think everyone who has ever had to commute in and around the city would be guilty then. What B.S. A nd who the hell is this guy to think that the city has gotten better? Oh wait he dosent drive he gets driven in a limo.. There are a ton of crap laws that range from honking your horn, to car alarms that go off for more than 30 second intervals..