Dress Code for Cab Drivers

Clean clothes? Great! Buttoned-up shirts? Fine. No open-toed sandals? OK. Optional uniforms with company logos and ties? Why not. Better manners? Wonderful.

But what possible public health, public safety or public interest need is served by the city of Los Angeles telling commercial taxicab drivers they can’t wear plaid pants or leisure suits (Metro, March 30)? Are clashing colors and polyester illegal? Maybe a driver likes to wear striped pants in 13 day-glo colors. That’s not illegal--yet!

I rarely have a need to ride in a cab, but if, I did my sole concern would be getting to my destination safely, quickly and without being overcharged. The color or pattern of the driver’s pants might not be what I would choose to wear, but it’s not my business (nor should it be the city’s) to play the role of a fashion expert.

What’s next--regulations on what color shirt my hair stylist can wear? What if the city had outlawed narrow ties for its employees 10 years ago, when wide ties were in? (Now, of course, it’s just the opposite.) Will we need a corps of fashion police to enforce these silly laws? With all the city’s problems, let’s leave fashion alone.

SHEL ERLICH

Van Nuys