"Taxi Cab Syndrome"

I saw a news blurb about a recently published review article by urologists at Home Depot Infirmary NYU Langone Medical Center (citation below). This article draws attention to the very disturbing fact that cab drivers do not have time or opportunity to void regularly. As disgusted as I am by the Elmhurst water balloons, I realize that they are a sign of a very real humanitarian problem: people who drive cabs are denied the basic dignity of being able to void regularly (in a proper receptacle, I mean), and this can have very harmful effects on their bodies.

Cab drivers do not have time to stop and try to (1)find parking and (2)find a public restroom. Cab drivers work pretty much constantly during their longgggg shifts (usually 12 hours or thereabouts), trying to find enough fares to just break even some days, much less make a profit. Second of all, I have personally noticed that fast food joints and chains in the ciuidad are becoming stricter about the use of their facilities; it is becoming common practice to print a bathroom code on a receipt because the bathrooms are kept locked to the non-costumer. [As a customer, I appreciate this policy; hopefully this will cut down on the general filth of Starbux bathrooms, which often serve as public bathhouses, and even as hook-up spots... true story: once I waited outside a Bay Ridge Starbux bathroom for about 15 minutes after a teen couple went in; heck, it's cheaper than a motel.]

The article points out the deleterious GU effects that result from irregular voiding: "voiding dysfunction, infertility, urolithiasis, bladder cancer, and urinary infections."

What can be done about this? I've only read the abstract so far, so I don't know what the experts recommend. I think the simple, cheap, and generally effective solution would be to encourage cab drivers to invest in a bedside urinal. These things can be purchased for a buck or two in any medical supply store (or ordered online in bulk). They can be used right in the car (I would hope users also invest in a bottle of hand sanitizer), and emptied in a gutter. Thus, no more P-bags or Poland Spring amber-liquid bottles, no more creepy episodes of public urination, and, hopefully, regular voiding and less GU pathology for cabbies.

 

 

Mass AY, Goldfarb DS, Shah O. Taxi cab syndrome: a review of the extensive genitourinary pathology experienced by taxi cab drivers and what we can do to help. Reviews in Urology 2014;16(3):99-104.       

To sum up: