Minneapolis Cab Company Agrees to Put Cameras in Cabs

Speaking of acting like a union....here we have a positive result of a tragedy -- a cabdriver shot to death -- and some good old fashioned organizing. Somali cabdrivers in Minneapolis are planning a one-day walkout on August 18 to honor the two cabbies who were fatally shot in the past month and to draw attention to their security concerns.

Mohamed Saleh's picture was prominently displayed Monday on a national Web site devoted to the nation's steady list of slain cabdrivers, the same day the Minneapolis company he drove for decided to install security cameras in its taxis as a safety precaution.

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Such safety measures have been credited with a dramatic decrease in cabdriver deaths in other metropolitan areas, including Baltimore, Boston and New York, where the city partly finances cameras or shields in virtually all the city's 50,000 taxicabs. As a result, the number of annual cabbie slayings in that city plummeted from 40 "to close to zero,'' said New York-based transportation consultant Bruce Shaller.

Scroll down for the background story.

For more information on cabdriver safety, check out this website, as well as this one.