Seoul taxis to use an automatic system for reporting to police

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will install a separate button on the standard taxi card readers to let drivers automatically report to the police in emergencies.

Upon pressing the button, a text message that includes the driver’s contact and location information is automatically reported to the ’112′ police emergency line.

Currently, taxi drivers have to rely on other citizens to report incidents, such as when they are exposed to violence while driving.

The city government also plans to subsidize the installation of partitions separating drivers from passengers in the rear seat by the end of this year.

It would benefit 500 corporate and private taxis.