The authority board turned its back on another revision Tuesday, but still declared victory, saying that the taxi industry has embraced cameras in cabs.

Board members were told that about 70 percent of the industry's 2,600 cabs are equipped with cameras and two companies that have balked at buying them will have them installed within two months. Some companies have already begun upgrading their systems.

But not everybody is happy with the board's decision to reject the latest Legislative Counsel Bureau revision.

The Industrial Technical Professional Employees union, which represents cab drivers at several companies, supported the latest revision because it required cameras in cabs, but prevented cab company owners from using cameras as management tools.

Over the last two years, the Taxicab Authority board and the LCB have gone back and forth with revisions with disputes over whether audio recordings were an invasion of privacy.

Although the taxi board implemented several safeguards assuring that only law-enforcement officers would review tapes if a criminal act had occurred, lawmakers asked that audio recordings be banned.

The most recent disagreement in policy centered around whether camera recordings could be used by taxi company management to review employee performance or be used for training purposes.

The most recent LCB revision of safety regulations said, "A camera system is not required to record audio. If audio is recorded, the audio recording must not be used by the certificate holder or management to evaluate or otherwise monitor the performance of the driver."

Brent Bell, president of Whittlesea Bell Transportation Co., the first company to install cameras and one of those that have begun upgrading technology, said it doesn't make sense for cab company owners that have invested millions of dollars in their systems not to use them to their full capability.

"The union wants to have it both ways," Bell said. "They say, ‘Protect us, but don't use it for anything else.'"

Bell sees management's use of the cameras as an extension of the safety issue because drivers are more conscientious if they believe managers are keeping an eye on them. His company has developed a bonus payment system for drivers who can go an entire month without an incident that would trigger the activation of a camera. Abrupt vehicle movements activate cameras in the Whittlesea system.

"It's kind of become a competition among the drivers now," Bell said. "They're seeing who has the best record over time."

Bell said he pays about $15,000 a month in bonuses to drivers with the best safety records.

He said other hidden benefits the cameras have provided are documenting the driver's side of the story when they are accused of doing something wrong by a passenger.

"If a passenger accuses a driver of doing something, it will show up on the tape," he said. "If a passenger is abusive or spits on the driver, the camera catches it."

Some of the images the cameras have captured have even surprised Bell. Road-rage incidents have been photographed and a few wild joy rides were discovered.

Ruthie Jones, vice president of the ITPE union, told the Taxicab Authority board that she knew she was going to be on the losing end of the argument, but told members she disagreed with the decision to pass on the LCB revision.

Jones argued that there would be nothing to prevent companies from removing cameras from cabs or that new owners or new entrants to the industry could ignore what their competitors have done and never install cameras in their vehicles.

But board members said they could always dig up the regulation and put it back on the agenda if companies abandoned their safety programs.