This Guy Has Been Driving Backwards for the Last 11 Years

G'day to you! I trust you are enjoying / surviving the holidays and taking time to relax periodically with a refreshing mug of coffee and a seasonal treat... virtual or otherwise. Haven't made my double double butter tarts yet but one of these days I'll get to it. We just got back from Ajax-by the-Lake and now catching up on all the things that need to get done. While you are relaxing with your mugful, here's a story about an unusual taxi driver...

Indian taxi driver Harpreet Dev is well-known in his hometown of Bhatinda, Punjab, for his amazing reverse driving skills. The 30-year-old has been driving his cab in reverse for the past 11 years. Harpreet is so used to it now that he says he doesn’t trust himself to drive forwards anymore! He even has a special government license that allows him to drive backwards in any state in the northern part of India.

Harpreet’s passion for reverse driving started in 2003, when his faithful Fiat Padmini  got stuck in reverse gear late one night. “I was outside the city, I had no money, so I thought of driving the car backwards until Bhatinda,” he said. “Then I drove backwards and later on I gained confidence.”

That’s when he realized that he was really on to something, so the next morning he painted the words ‘Back Gear Champion’ on the side of the car and redesigned its gearbox to have four reverse gears and only one forward.

His next step will be English lessons so he learns how to spell the word Champion!

See ya, eh!

Bob