San Diego police continue to investigate what caused a taxicab to plow into a crowd outside the Stingaree nightclub in the Gaslamp district last month, and some San Diegans are calling for increased regulations for drivers who shuttle the public around the city. The driver of the cab, Sam Hassan Daly, admitted he regularly drove between 16 and 18 hours per day, which has prompted fresh questions as to whether more oversight is needed by the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) Taxicab Administration, which regulates the industry. The MTS has no established rules regarding the maximum numbers of hours drivers can operate the more than 1,200 taxis the agency oversees.  “Let’s allow the police to do their investigation first,” said John Scott, taxicab administrator for the MTS in response to questions about increased scrutiny by the agency over the taxicab industry. “If the investigation reveals that there are issues that need to be addressed, we will work with the Sheriff’s Department to clear them up.” Authorities have been questioning witnesses for details of the incident that occurred shortly after 1:50 a.m. on Feb. 12, when an Emerald cab driven at about 15 mph by Daly jumped the curb and struck pedestrians as they left the establishment located at 454 6th Ave. Dozens of bystanders were injured, including a woman whose leg was partially severed. “In my opinion, it was a freakish thing,” said Turk Spinuzzi, general manager of Stingaree. “In the 15 years that I’ve been doing this, I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Daly, 52, was then pulled from the cab and beaten by an angry crowd who thought the Egyptian immigrant was trying to flee the scene. Daly suffered a broken nose along with cuts and bruises on his face. Investigators are focusing on whether driver fatigue or health issues played a role in the crash. Police have not filed charges against the cabbie in this case. It will be several weeks before an official report is released, said Rick O’Hanlon of the San Diego Police Department. According to published accounts, Daly, who worked as a dermatologist in his native country, told police that he was very tired and passed out just before the collision occurred. Daly also told police that he was taking antidepressants and a new medication, which may have caused him to lose consciousness. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department was among the first emergency crews to reach the scene. Maurice Luque, spokesman for the Fire-Rescue Department, said regulatory authorities in charge of taxicabs throughout San Diego might want to be more stringent in monitoring not only the hours that taxicab drivers are allowed to drive, but also their driving records. This greater oversight might need to cover insurance coverage to assure that the community is better protected when traveling in a taxicab, he said. According to Scott, as of Feb. 22, the minimum combined insurance amount for property and bodily injury damage for some San Diego taxis is $1 million per incident. By March 22, all taxicabs regulated by the agency will be required to carry the new level of insurance. In 2010, the MTS raised the insurance requirement from $300,000. Ashkan King Aminpour, a San Diego attorney representing seven victims of the crash, said that based on conversations with first responders who were at the scene and who observed Daly’s demeanor immediately after the impact, it appears as if the taxicab driver fell asleep at the wheel. Aminpour said he expects the police report will reach the same conclusion. No proof that Daly was driving an excessive number of hours on the night of the crash has been reported. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, which licenses taxi drivers, suspended Daly’s taxi identification without a hearing following the collision. Jan Aldwell, public affairs director for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, said the suspension was based on the ongoing investigation by the police department. Berhanu Zenawi, a former cabbie from City Heights, who now drives a truck, said that the pressure to cover his weekly cab expenses forced him to work 15 to 20 hours per day, sometimes up to seven days per week. Zenawi said it’s surprising there aren’t more accidents involving cab drivers and that the local taxi industry must consider limiting the number of hours drivers can operate a cab. “Train and trolley operators, truckers and pilots are all limited in how many hours they can work per day. Why not cab drivers?” Zenawi asked. Recalling a driver strike in 2009, he said “with high leases, expensive gas prices, insurance and a bad economy, it’s absolutely insane to want to be a cabbie in this city, but for some immigrants, it’s the only way to make any money.”