The Cabbies Are Smarter Than Google Maps

London has the most informed cab drivers in the world – and they’ve got diplomas to prove it. To become a certified taxi operator in London, a driver must first pass “the Knowledge”, an extraordinarily difficult exam that involves the detailed recall of 25,000 streets within a six-mile radius of London’s Charing Cross railway station. But that’s just the beginning. Cabbies must also memorize the ‘points of interest’ along the routes including streets, squares, clubs, hospitals, hotels, theatres, embassies, government and public buildings, railway stations, police stations, courts, diplomatic buildings, important places of worship, cemeteries, parks and open spaces, sports and leisure centres, places of learning, restaurants and historic building. Plus they have to be fluent in English.

Most drivers take three years to master the Knowledge, and much practice by tracing the routes on a bicycle. It’s not uncommon to see future cabbies pedaling through the city in the early morning with plastic-covered maps clipped to their handlebars. Drivers must know their directions backwards and forwards, which is a complicated task in the maze of London’s one-way streets and blocked-off pedestrian zones.

The testing process isn’t quick, either. The exam comprises a six-month series of evaluations that includes written, oral and practical tests, and only one-quarter of the candidates make it through.

Taxi-driver applicants must be ‘of good character’, meeting strict requirements¹ regarding any criminal record². During testing Knowledge boys and girls must, without looking at a map, identify the quickest and most sensible route between any two points in metropolitan London that their examiner chooses.

But there is an additional benefit for those who pass the exam. In 2000, researchers at the Welcome Trust in London scanned the brains of 16 London taxi drivers and found that each cabby’s hippocampus – the area of the brain associated with memory – was larger than that of control subjects. Scientists believe that the hippocampus grew larger as the drivers spent more time on the job. Storing and retaining that much information could actually be a prescription for avoiding dementia.

Notes

¹ meeting strict requirements - отвечая строгим требованиям

² criminal record - судимость

Words

cabby - таксист

map - карта

prove - доказывать

involve - включать

route - маршрут

embassy - посольство

court - суд

worship - поклонение

cemetery - кладбище

handlebar - руль

maze - лабиринт

pedestrian - пешеход

include - включать

oral - устный

applicant - кандидат, претендент

sensible - разумный

benefit - польза, выгода

researcher - исследователь

brain - мозг

retain - удерживать, сохранять

prescription - рецепт

avoid - избегать

dementia - слабоумие