Driven: Get it on tape, says taxi driver who sees too many near-misses

It's an inky dark night, and taxi driver Joe White is heading west on Topsail Road, in St. John's. Headlights from hundreds of passing cars beam towards him, while neon signs tempt distraction in every direction.

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Years of making his living behind the wheel of a cab have given White a sixth sense for driving, and especially for when an accident may be about to happen.

He senses one now.

A few meters ahead, another car hangs a sudden left turn, cutting right in front of White's oncoming cab.

"I knew what she was going to do," White says. "I jumped on the brake pedal and she stopped halfway in my lane. I couldn't go anywhere, so she kept on making the left-hand turn into Burger King."

White has already prevented one accident by braking in the nick of time. But now, his sixth sense kicks into gear again.

"I couldn't go anywhere so she kept on making the left-hand turn into Burger King, and I looked in my rearview mirror and there was a car coming up in the inside lane. I leaned on the horn to get her attention, she continued on and the other guy who was in the inside lane, he stopped just inches away from her bumper. I mean, he could have killed her at the time."

It's a scene that plays out over and over on our roadways; a bad driving decision, lack of concentration, or simple disregard for safety causes someone to do something dangerous. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes not.

When most of us witness these moments, we often shake our heads, maybe mutter, maybe shout to ourselves. But usually we drive away and quickly forget what we saw.

But Joe White never forgets near-misses like this one. That's because the whole incident was recorded on video by dashboard cameras mounted in White's taxi.

Impartial witness

"Someone tore the side out of my car a little over four years ago," White explains.

"When that happened, this gentleman got into my car and said, 'sorry about that buddy, I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.' That was on a Saturday, and on Monday morning it was a completely different story when he reported the accident to his insurance company and mine."

Ever since, White always has his dash-cam rolling. If he's ever in another accident, he'll have an impartial witness.

But the cameras capture a lot more than what happens to White's taxi. As a professional driver, White logs a lot of hours on the road.

Many days, he witnesses another near-miss, fender bender, or the occasional serious accident. And when he does, he adds the video file to his ever-growing collection.

Now, White has shared that collection with CBC. We've put together a "Worst Of' video featuring incidents that White has recorded within the past year or so. You can watch the video above.

You'll see the kind of driving that makes people's blood boildrivers shamelessly running red lights, making lane changes with no signal and nearly crashing into oncoming traffic.

It's the kind of driving that could make you think twice about earning your living on the road.But as long as the cameras are watching out for him, Joe White isn't worried.

"Joe, when you hang up the taxi business, will these cameras find their way into your personal car?" I ask him.

"Actually, they're already in my wife's personal vehicle!" he says.