The Big Apple's recent effort to hybridize its entire environmentally dated fleet of yellow taxi cabs has been met with resistance by the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade (MTBOT), charging that hybrids are generally unsafe.

MTBOT validates its claim by contrasting Ford Escape, Nissan Altima, and other hybrids chosen for the NYC taxi fleet with the archaic V8-powered Ford Crown Victoria - a vehicle that, MTBOT insists, is a much safer bet for taxi drivers and passengers. According to the AutoblogGreen, the author of the MTBOT's report, C. Bruce Gambardella, issued a statement in which he hails the Crown Vic as "the safest taxicab on the road." The report went on to say that driver/passenger partitions in new hybrids "were found to compromise their safety systems by blocking side-curtain airbags from deploying; become easily dislodged in accidents; restrict drivers from safely distancing themselves from front airbags; and diminish backseat legroom so severely -- as much as 10 inches less than in a stretch Ford Crown Victoria -- that even belted passengers will hit their faces on the hard unyielding surface of the partitions in an accident."

Though in-vehicle partitions are no doubt above my pay grade, it is a well-known fact that the Ford Escape Hybrid is the Insurance Institute's top safety pick. The Nissan Altima came out on top as well, earning good marks all around. And if it's good enough for the nation's top safety watchdog, both drivers and passengers in New York should rest assured, while the city's most influential taxicab lobby focuses on something equally pressing - the fuel economy!