1,500 Attend Funeral of Slain Driver, Demand Safety Measures

Cab drivers carried picket signs to the funeral yesterday of Toronto cab driver Baljinder Singh Rai, demanding that the city improve job safety for cabbies. More than 1,500 people, many of them taxi drivers, attended the funeral of Rai, who was stabbed to death while on duty New Year's Day.

The Toronto Sun reported that hundreds of taxis met at a cemetery in the city's north end for the service. As part of Sikh tradition, each of the mourners lined up to touch the casket during the service for the father of two, who was stabbed twice by two passengers he picked up in Brampton, northwest of Toronto.

Rai was able to drive to a restaurant where someone called 911. He died about an hour later. Two teens are charged with first-degree murder in his death. Toronto police are still hunting for the killer of cab driver Mohammadullah Saighani, whose stabbed and beaten body was found behind a factory on Dec. 30.

"We are not allowed to refuse a fare," taxi driver Sarbul Ghuman told the Toronto Sun. "At night there should be no passengers in the front seat, and safety shields should be (required) by law."

Ghuman said he would like to see the Toronto city government, which passed a passenger's bill of rights to do the same for taxi drivers.

Many taxi owners said that screens and video cameras are too expensive to install in their cabs. The cost can be as much as $2,000 per vehicle. Plus, many drivers don't like the screens, because it limits their interaction with passengers, making the job more boring.