‘Hail’ city’s top cabbies
410 safest hacks recognized
Meet the city’s most cautious cabbie.
Ali Abubakar, a Bronx yellow cab driver since 2003 and father of six, was honored as the safest driver of the year by the Taxi & Limousine Commission.
Abubakar is a widower originally from Ghana. “I’m very patient and cautious on the road,” Abubakar said. “I learned how to be patient from my previous work as a home health care attendant.”
Abubakar was among 410 city cabbies who haven’t gotten in any crashes for four years recognized Wednesday in a ceremony at the Museum of the American Indian. There are more than 180,000 licensed TLC drivers.
“It’s not an accident that these people are here today,” said Allan Fromberg, TLC deputy commissioner. “They have not had any crashes or violations, either moving or otherwise, over a four year period which is, in New York City, extraordinary.”
This was the fifth year the TLC has has held its Safety Honor Roll event, part of Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan to end traffic deaths in the city.
“If you put together all of the miles that all of the honorees have driven, it is 4.7 million trips,” TLC Chair Meera Joshi marveled. “It is equivalent to 49 round trips to the moon.”
Drivers milled about the packed auditorium with family members, picked up their certificates, and took photos with top TLC brass before listening to speeches by honorees.
Hazzem el-Sisi, a Queens taxi driver from Egypt, was honored as the top driver of a handicap-accessible vehicle.
El-Sisi was born with Erb’s palsy, which caused a deformity in the muscles on his arm, back and neck.
“I suffered through a lot with physical therapy,” he told the audience while accepting a certificate. “Living with Erb’s palsy has given me some perspective on what it’s like to be a New Yorker with a disability and it makes me feel good to help passengers travel to where they need to go.”
Some drivers, when it came to keeping the city safe, went above and beyond the call of duty.
Thierno Diakhate, 33, was honored for helping cops track down a bank robber who used his yellow cab as a getaway vehicle.
The robber held up a Chase Bank and then hopped in his cab to hitch a ride to Brooklyn in July. After cops contacted Diakhate, he helped them locate and arrest her.
“I was excited,” Diakhate said. “I’m a New Yorker. I’m a cab driver. Whatever I can do to make the city safe I’m gonna do it.”
“You’re really the backbone of the city,” Gale Brewer, Manhattan borough president, told the careful cabbies. “You see. You hear. You’re also the eyes and ears of our streets.”