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'Women are simply better drivers'

Posted on November 25, 2008 by Natalie McGarry

It's hard to find a woman at the wheel of a taxi cab in the West, but a new business is making it a familiar sight in an unlikely place: Iran.

The BBC reports on a taxi service "run by women, for women."

All of the company's drivers and dispatchers are women. (Unlike neighboring Saudi Arabia, it is not illegal for women to drive in Iran.) Many are widows or divorcees that need the income. In addition, 70 percent of the drivers are purchasing their cabs, paying in installments over five years. Drivers are even "given lessons in basic car maintenance and such essentials as how to change a burst tire."

The company's initial fleet of 10 cars has grown to 700. They shuttle about 2,500 people a day.

"I feel safer in a woman's taxi, from all points of view," said one customer. "A lot of the men drivers are young and impatient, and they're not disciplined. Women are simply better drivers."

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