Insecurity: some Vaudoises are afraid of taking the taxi

ThoseInsecurity in taxis –“I don’t let go of my phone to be ready to warn my friends”

Many women are afraid of taking a taxi at nightfall. Cases of sexual assault and harassment would be undervalued. Testimonies.

Posted today at 8:30 p.m.

“Whenever I take the taxi when I come back from the evening, I have the ball in the stomach. I know that the majority of drivers are well intentioned, but the slippages are frequent. I don’t let go of my phone to be ready to warn my friends at any time. ” Like many women, Camille*, a young 28 -year -old Lausannoise, is afraid to climb in A taxi The nightfall.

And for good reason. One evening, one of them would have asked many questions about his sexuality, while taking detours that unnecessarily lengthened the journey. “I was terrified. I felt like he was expecting something from me. ” Following this episode, Camille no longer climbed aboard a taxi for almost three years. She got back there last year because, “it must be said, public transport is not much more reassuring at night.”

The phenomenon would be undervalued According to RTS. Wednesday, a Lausanne taxi driver was sentenced to 24 months in prison, including 9 farm, to have assaulted a woman that he brought home at night, one evening in November 2023. Isolated incident? According to our colleagues, many cases would pass under the radar of justice, in particular because the victims do not know the identity of their aggressor. Complaints are rare.

Slap that remained unpunished

Jade, 29, also had a very unpleasant experience with a taxi driver, in the city center of Lausanne. At the end of 2022, when she came to the aid of a young unknown “who had drunk too much” by ordering a Uberthe young woman is arrested by a very angry taximan. “He claimed that he was blocked, and called me a big P *** when I wanted to chat with him. The tone rose, then he slapped me in the face. One of the colleagues who accompanied me that evening also took a blow that broke her glasses. ”

The case is brought before the courts. “I discovered that this gentleman already had a criminal record for theft and violation of domicile. In our case, the prosecution judged that the assault was not sufficiently documented to condemn it, even though we had filed a complaint and took photos of our faces swollen to the violence medicine unit au chuv. ”

Jade is “stunned” that this driver can always exercise “as if nothing had happened” after this double attack in full service. She has never dared to take over the taxi since, for fear of coming face to face with him. “Police dissuaded me from contacting their employer to avoid reprisals,” deplores the young woman. The treatment of this case by the authorities shocks me as much as the free and revolting violence of this driver. ”

Possible reports at Uber

In 2019, frosty stories multiplied on social networks, behind the hashtag #ubercestover. Hundreds of women told the assaults or harassment suffered during their race. Since then, the platform has set up an “emergency button” allowing passengers to report via the mobile application that they feel in danger.

The new system also makes it possible to share the location of the car in real time to those around him or to detect prolonged stops, possibly suspect. On the taxis side, the RTS stresses that only the municipalities of Delémont and La Chaux-de-Fonds force the drivers to clearly display their identity in the passenger compartment.

Unfortunately sterile measures, criticism of Adèle*, an Yverdonnaise thirty -something. “I have already reported gravelly drivers who are still active today. And I am still waiting for Uber to contact me … “ironic knowing that the VTC (transport vehicles with driver) are often perceived” as the surest way to go home at home, especially with the generation of our parents, who always told us to go see taxis when we had a problem in the evening. “

“It’s up to men to change”

Tracing journeys, allowed by Uber, reassures certain women. But the system is not infallible. “Once, while we had each ordered an Uber with a friend out of the nightclub, his – arrived first on the scene – proposed to cancel my race with his colleague so that he brings us both. The deal was that I pay via Twint, ”recalls Laure, 25 years old.

The young Lausannoise agrees, before being afraid once her friend leaves the vehicle. “When I ended up alone with him, I realized that Uber had no idea that I was in the car … It could have happened, without me being able to activate the emergency button.” Fortunately, the race ends without problem, but Laure is now thinking twice before going amicably.

For her part, Camille also manages to take the taxi with friends. To lighten the bill, but above all to arm yourself against unpleasant surprises. “Only, as I live on the outskirts of the city, they leave the taxi one after the other when they arrive at their destination, and I find myself alone with the driver during the last end. These are the longest minutes of the race. ”

Anyway, Camille refuses to sacrifice her outings on the altar of sexist incidents. “It is not up to women to stay at home because they cannot trust men. It is up to men to change behavior. ”

Tella ults Neie Were is a journalist at the Vaud section. After a bachelor in political science, he obtained his master’s degree at the Academy of Journalism and the Media (AJM) of the University of Neuchâtel. He also went through the writing of time.More info

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