I find the safest way to take a taxi is to grab the front seat and then turn around for the whole journey talking to those in the back seat so that you never have to see where your going or more important how you are getting there. The moral is never take a taxi alone unless you are desperate to get somewhere fast and I mean fast.
But it is not the taxi drivers that are a problem. Its those drivers that decide that the footpath (side walk) is safer place for them to drive on than the roadway!!!
Willy