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TacticalCoderyesterday at 6:05 PM6 repliesview on HN

That's very interesting but why do taxi drivers have a job that lowers life expectancy? Is it because they're sitting too much? Or because they're inhaling CO from cars too much? Or staying inside (the car) too much? Or is it just stressful?

For from the look of it it doesn't look like an exceptionally hard job (btw a brother of mine did years of "VTC": "Vehicule de Tourisme avec Chauffeur", basically high-end taxis without the "taxi" logo).


Replies

xhevahiryesterday at 11:08 PM

I did it, briefly, twenty-some years ago. Lousy job—sitting all day, irregular pay, danger, nasty fares, drunk fares, belligerent fares, fares who seem to have nothing better to do with their days than to find ways to cheat a driver. But the thing that really sucks is the hours: shifts are twelve hours long, either ending or beginning at 3:00am, and because your rental for the cab is highest at the beginning of your work week, descending every successive day (free on day seven), the compensation is structured so that you're making good money only by working a ton of hours.

idyesterday at 6:33 PM

Because it doesn't pay very well. Being affluent increases life expectancy.

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AngryDatatoday at 3:47 AM

Lower income, little physical mobility in their job, constantly breathing traffic fumes, and tire and brake dust would be my first suspects.

coldteayesterday at 7:38 PM

>For from the look of it it doesn't look like an exceptionally hard job

Define "hard job". Carrying heavy objects?

apothegmyesterday at 10:49 PM

It’s a very sedentary job, pretty much by definition.

wilburx3yesterday at 6:17 PM

Getting stabbed in the neck by filthy street urchins.

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