Air Bags.

Everyone jumps into cabs with no real thoughts of safety especially as the journey is often quite short. Yet it is something we should consider with any vehicle we travel in, especially cabs and rental cars. We have that egalitarian attitude in Australia to jump into the front seat of a cab, chat with the driver, casually watch where we are driving and pay at the other end. Statistics tell us that accident survival rates in a cab are 94% in the back seat, 87% for the driver but only 25% for the front passenger seat, time to get in the back. If we looked even closer at a lot of the cabs we get into and ask ourselves a couple of questions, we might bring up some more doubts on the safety of the vehicles. I wouldn't buy a lot of the taxis I've been in for the family car because they certainly look like they have done the hard miles and I don't really know what it's like under the bonnet and if the brakes have been looked at recently.

The skills of the taxi driver are another issue altogether and I think we put way too much trust in people we have never met to deliver us safely to our destinations. I don't think anyone would argue that service, knowledge and the general upkeep levels of cabs has dropped in the past decade, so add that to an aging fleet and there are enough question marks to why you would get into the crummy ones in the first place?

While we don't think much about getting into cabs we do invest some more time when we decide to rent a car for business or leisure. As a general rule we start at the bottom rung regarding prices and get what we pay for. If you asked most people would they buy the car they are renting, they would tell you no and that the family car requires much more thought in regards to safety and performance.

To pick a rental on size, convenience and price makes no sense compared to what you drive around in normally. In the US where there have been recalls of cars from large brands like Toyota to GM, rental car companies have had to satisfy consumer and advocate group concerns by fulfilling federal safety obligations and making sure drivers are aware of a car's safety features. Like everything in the US some of the new rental car safety obligations came about after disastrous accidents and subsequent legal verdicts.

One such legal outcome was from a $15 million verdict against Enterprise Rent A Car, following the deaths of sisters in a PT Cruiser which had been recalled but not repaired properly, causing it to catch on fire, creating a loss in steering and a fatal head on with a semi trailer.

So while you agonise over the next car purchase and read all about the airbags and impact safety features, think also about the next cab or rental car you may be travelling in and decide what's more important, a $5 dollar a day saving on the rental car or taking the first cab that comes along. I'll be thinking about that from the back seat of a Silver Service cab or on my next driving holiday in my steel plated Hummer.