The traffic on Third Ave. Monday morning kept even the most impatient cabbies to a safe crawl, but there was still a skid mark on the sidewalk outside Docks Oyster Bar.

The night before, an out-of-control taxi had jumped the curb here and struck a TV news chopper pilot. Paul Smith had mastered his piloting skills in Vietnam, and he survived that war only to be killed at the age of 60 by acab outside a Manhattan restaurant.

The cops suggest the cabbie was speeding.

The cabbie insists otherwise.

As this remains a country where everyone is presumed innocent until proved otherwise, the cabbie was not charged.

The suspicion remains, and if the cabbie is as blameless as he claims, then he should be foremost among those who support a GPS that records a taxi's speed.

City taxis are being equipped with GPS devices, but they only kick in with the meter and are intended simply to mark where a trip begins and ends, not the velocity in between.

A little geek work could enable the GPS to monitor speed as well, as do those used by Automated Waste Disposal Co. in Connecticut. The company used its GPS the other day to catch one of its garbage truck drivers going 51 mph in a 35-mph zone.

The same could be done here not only with taxis but school buses and maybe even those Access-A-Ride vehicles that I have too often seen careen through crowded streets.

The governments of Canada and the Netherlands are researching the feasibility of equipping private cars with GPS devices that register not only the speed, but how close a car is to the vehicle ahead. There has been talk of somehow rewarding motorists who consistently refrain from speeding and tailgating.

Perhaps insurance companies here could offer a discount to New Yorkers with GPS-generated proof they actually obey the traffic laws. A GPS that interfaced with city computers could also tell if the car had run any red lights and made any illegal turns.

Of course, teenagers might not be too happy if a parent could check not just where the car went, but how fast and how safely it traveled there

In the meantime, we should start with the taxis, which are getting GPS boxes anyway. The cabbies are already grumbling about that, and this is to be expected.

I remember from my days as a cabbie that one of its few blessings is being free of having a boss looking over your shoulder, but a GPS record would be a safe cabbie's best pal in the event of an accident.

Cabbies are generally safer drivers than their reputation would suggest. That was clear yesterday where Park Ave. crosses E. 36th St. The downtown lanes were clear enough for a cabbie to floor the accelerator.

But for a good five minutes, nary a cab seemed to be speeding. Those who turned used their indicators. Cab after cab after cab stopped as the light went from yellow to red.

Then, a cab whose roof light identified it as 1V31 blew through a red light. Another cab, 1G36, did the same minutes later.

Either bit of recklessness could have resulted in a tragedy such as the one that took Smith's life on Sunday. Neither cab would have likely run the light if a GPS was automatically citing them for failing to stop and maybe for speeding as well.

Even cabbies such as these would be an example for the rest of us, whether they liked it or not.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/10/09/2007-10-09_gps_in_cabs_could_point_finger_at_true_s-1.html