為應對頻發的出租車司機遇襲案，紐約出租車司機聯合會近日宣布將為出租車司機發放防彈背心，以保證他們的安全。據悉，該計劃將率先在布魯克林及皇后區等案件高發地區試運行，在該區域運營的電召出租車司機將會領到能夠穿在襯衫或者外套里面的警用防彈衣。該聯合會會長指出，紐約市每個月有將近300起出租車司機被搶或遇襲的案件，他表示會向紐約警察總署求助，為更多出租車司機申請防彈衣。對于此舉，紐約市長卻表示是“反應過度”，稱“沒有必要這樣做”。出租車司機聯合會會長則反擊稱“開出租車的不是市長也不是警察局長”，只有出租車司機們了解個中黑白。

A handful of New York cabbies are to wear bullet-proof vests as part of a pilot programme in response to assaults on drivers, their representative said on Monday.

A handful of New York cabbies are to wear bullet-proof vests as part of a pilot programme in response to assaults on drivers, their representative said on Monday.

Initially, a dozen police-issue flak jackets, which fit under a shirt or jacket, will be given to drivers of livery cabs in tough areas of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, NY1 television reported.

The plan responds to the June murder of a taxi driver in the Bronx neighbourhood. A driver in the Queens neighbourhood was shot and severely wounded during a robbery in December.

Fernando Mateo, head of the New York Federation of Taxi Drivers, says that some 300 robberies and assaults against cab drivers take place every month.

"One shooting is a lot and whatever we can do to help improve the safety of our drivers is something that we will do," he told news site Examiner.com.

Livery cabs, often painted black, respond to telephone requests, while the city's more famous yellow cabs pick up passengers from the streets.

Mr Mateo said in a television interview: "we're going to reach out to NYPD, to individual police officers," with a request for more of the dark vests.

However, city officials said the idea was overkill.

"I do not think they need to do that," Mayor Michael Bloomberg was quoted by Examiner.com as saying.

Mr Mateo responded that drivers knew best: "Neither the mayor nor the commissioner drive a cab."

Reflecting tensions over driver safety in New York, Mr Mateo caused a stir in December when he urged drivers to think twice before picking up African American or Hispanic passengers.

"You know sometimes it's good that we are racially profiled because the God's-honest truth is that 99 per cent of the people that are robbing, stealing, killing these drivers are blacks and Hispanics," he said.

Mr Mateo was accused by some commentators of racism, but others in the city supported him, while he claimed he could not be racist since he was part Hispanic and part African American himself.

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(Agencies)

Vocabulary:

livery cab: respond to telephone requests, 接待電話叫車乘客的出租車，一般譯作“電召車”。

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）