Etienne Bessette uses taxis all the time and he's seen some sketchy drivers and questionable cabs -- but when his driver decided to nap in stop-and-go traffic this week, even Bessette was stunned.
"I've been in cars where you could swear the axle on the back is going to fall off. The brakes are screaming 'change me,' the smell is sometimes frightening...it smells like something died in there," the Montreal resident told CTV News.
But this took it to the next level.
On Tuesday, during a cab ride from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Bessette's taxi ended up in gridlock traffic.
He was working on his phone, not paying much attention, until he noticed traffic was moving forward but his cab wasn't going anywhere.
"I see the car in front of me move away, two car lengths away, and we're moving. I look up and I realized the driver is literally sleeping at the wheel," Bessette said.
"I said 'Hey, are you ok?' And he basically came up nice and slow, like nothing is going on, kept moving, said 'No, everything is fine.' He did it at least 10 times."
Despite the thick skin Bessette has developed through his many taxicab adventures, he decided to document the incident. He said it wasn't even the fact the cabbie fell asleep that set him off, it was the laissez-faire attitude the drowsy driver had about the situation.
"I told myself I have to take pictures of this, this is not right, this is potentially dangerous. If he takes his foot off the brake, we start moving, we're all in big trouble," Bessette said.
The drive home took two hours. And by the time Bessette got to his destination he was fed up and posted about the incident on Facebook. Then he filed an official complaint.
The Montreal taxi bureau confirmed to CTV Montreal that an investigation is underway, though it is not yet clear what sanctions, if any, the driver might face.
However, the bureau does encourage dissatisfied customers to file complaints, and said doing so does produce results.
Other taxi drivers said the rise of Uber has made it harder for traditional cabbies to earn a living, and said many drivers are working longer days to try and get by.
"Unfortunate things happen, because you know we are struggling big time," said one driver.
Another said it simply makes sense to take a break if it's that difficult to stay awake.
"You have to come home a little bit, to sleep, then come back to work," the driver said.
For an industry fighting to protect the livelihood of its drivers and regain a reputation that has recently been tarnished, Bessette said he hopes the incident will serve as a wake-up call.
"It's just basic safety," Bessette said. "Someone could have been killed, it could have been him, it could have been me. Maybe he's doing it regularly and someone else will get hurt."
With a report from CTV Montreal's Annie DeMelt
