Comment by TacticalCoder
17 hours ago
That's very interesting but why do taxi drivers have a job that lowers life expectancy? Is it because they're sitting too much? Or because they're inhaling CO from cars too much? Or staying inside (the car) too much? Or is it just stressful?
For from the look of it it doesn't look like an exceptionally hard job (btw a brother of mine did years of "VTC": "Vehicule de Tourisme avec Chauffeur", basically high-end taxis without the "taxi" logo).
I did it, briefly, twenty-some years ago. Lousy job—sitting all day, irregular pay, danger, nasty fares, drunk fares, belligerent fares, fares who seem to have nothing better to do with their days than to find ways to cheat a driver. But the thing that really sucks is the hours: shifts are twelve hours long, either ending or beginning at 3:00am, and because your rental for the cab is highest at the beginning of your work week, descending every successive day (free on day seven), the compensation is structured so that you're making good money only by working a ton of hours.
Because it doesn't pay very well. Being affluent increases life expectancy.
1. They are hardly in the bottom quintile, where the income effect is large enough that it could actually shave 7 years off their life. I'd expect nightly work, irregular sleep patterns, too much fast food and maybe a higher frequency of smoking to do their part.
2. The original study didn't just study taxi drivers, but also ambulance drivers. I doubt that their life expectancy is that much lower.
They are if you consider the amount of hours they work
>For from the look of it it doesn't look like an exceptionally hard job
Define "hard job". Carrying heavy objects?
Stressful on the body.
Odd hours, sitting too much, inhaling too many exhaust fumes, having people yell at you if _they're_ late.
Sounds like a fairly hard job.
Yes, taxi driving can be hard.
There are jobs stressful on the mind too - and some of them have very low "life expectancies".
Lower income, little physical mobility in their job, constantly breathing traffic fumes, and tire and brake dust would be my first suspects.
It’s a very sedentary job, pretty much by definition.
Getting stabbed in the neck by filthy street urchins.
Probably not smart to post something like this on the same message board you’re using to get a job
A joke?
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