Back to front

A cab driver in the Northern Indian State of Rajasthan has been given a special license by the local authorities, which permits him to drive at speed in reverse. This stems from an incident when his gearbox failed in 2003 and he had to drive home in reverse. The man then decided he wanted to distinguish himself from other cab drivers by becoming an expert in reverse driving and had the gearbox of his Padmini Princess cab (based on a 1950s Fiat) reassembled so that it has four reverse and one forward gear. T
July 16, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A cab driver in the Northern Indian State of Rajasthan has been given a special license by the local authorities, which permits him to drive at speed in reverse. This stems from an incident when his gearbox failed in 2003 and he had to drive home in reverse. The man then decided he wanted to distinguish himself from other cab drivers by becoming an expert in reverse driving and had the gearbox of his Padmini Princess cab (based on a 1950s 2729 Fiat) reassembled so that it has four reverse and one forward gear. The taxi now has 'Back Gear Champian' painted on its side so that would-be customers should have no doubts as to what to expect, while the driver has no doubt already been told that his spelling is incorrect. The cabbie regularly drives at up to 80km/h in reverse while using an ambulance siren to warn other road users. For his troubles he does suffer severe neck and back problems but says that this is a small price to pay. He has attempted to set a world record but has not as yet managed to have this officially verified.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Regulating Kenya’s boda boda business
    July 28, 2015
    Kenya’s many motorcycle taxis have an unenviably poor record for road safety - Shem Oirere writes. A state-owned road safety agency in Kenya is grappling with enforcement of new traffic regulations aimed at reducing the number of road accidents involving two-wheeled motorcycle taxis, popularly known as boda boda. The latest statistics indicate that fatalities relating to these vehicles shot up by 58% during the first four months of 2015. Experts have concurred with a previous study by the World Health Or
    Read More
  • Eyes Front!
    June 13, 2012
    A scooter rider in China has learned the importance of keeping his eyes on the road the hard way. The man was buzzing along the street on his zippy little scooter when his attention was caught by the presence of a woman he found attractive. Turning his head to look at the woman as he drove by, the man forgot that paying attention to the roadway while driving is a fundamental rule. Moments later he rammed into the rear of a parked van and was thrown from his steed into the path of another scooter, which then
    Read More
  • Cutting speed to cut crashes and boost safety
    February 10, 2021
    Cutting speed can help cut crashes and boost safety.
    Read More
  • Attitude is key to sustainability, says Volvo CE’s Thomas Bitter
    June 27, 2018
    Whether you are in the global Volvo Ocean Race or working on-site locally, sustainability is about attitude as much as technology. David Arminas reports. Technology, sustainability and safety. We ignore these often related themes at our peril. This was the key point made by Volvo Group chief executive Martin Lundstedt during his brief opening presentation at the start of the Building Tomorrow Conference in Spain last October. The conference took place within the harbour of Alicante that was bustling wit
    Read More

Highlighted Content