What Are Your Rights When You Ride in an Uber?
So what can you do to protect yourself? Here’s what you need to know.
Early in May, a federal judge in California ruled that two women could sue Uber for sexual assaults committed by the company’s drivers. The women behind this lawsuit claimed that Uber’s promise that their drivers are properly vetted is fraudulent. Case in point: One of the attackers had a 12-year-old domestic violence charge that was missed in the background check, because Uber’s checks only go back seven years. Meanwhile, according to The Guardian, both Uber and Lyft have decided to stop doing business in Austin, Texas, after voters demanded more stringent background checks that would require fingerprinting of potential drivers.
“The ruling by Federal Judge Susan Ilston represents a legal victory for the Plaintiffs in the case, as well as a victory for all those who have argued that Uber drivers should be undergoing sufficient background checks, including fingerprinting,” Oved says. “While fingerprinting is a routine requirement of taxi drivers and limousine services throughout the country, Uber’s current background checks do not include fingerprinting—which can show if a person was ever arrested.”
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Because Uber drivers are all independent contractors rather than employees, when you download the app, you’re agreeing to use the service knowing that this limits Uber’s liability for their driver’s actions, Oved says. Ultimately, this makes Uber less legally responsible for the actions of their drivers than a taxi company—but not entirely irresponsible, as the recent California ruling proves.
What Should You Do if Something Sketchy Happens?
If something bad does happen to you in an Uber or a Lyft, Oved says there’s a lot you can do in addition to filing a complaint about the driver through the app. “From a criminal law perspective, victims should file a police report with their local police precinct and lodge a complaint with their local taxi and limousine commission, so that criminal and regulatory authorities can take the appropriate legal action,” he says
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Oved adds that from there, you can also ask a qualified lawyer to help you sue the driver under civil law, and seek additional damages from Uber itself “under various legal theories, including vicarious liability and negligent hiring.”
The Price of Safety
For women, the fear of getting into a car with a complete stranger isn’t anything new. We’ve always had to worry about the risk of being assaulted by a taxi driver. And the question of who is ultimately liable for such crimes matters less than the fact that we have to fear for our basic safety anytime we need a ride somewhere.
So, how much more dangerous is taking an Uber than a taxi? And for those who don’t want to take their chances at all, are there any safer options?
Unfortunately, the answer to that first question remains unclear. In New York, the number of sexual assaults occurring in taxis actually appears to be rising, according to the Wall Street Journal. But a recent investigation by The Atlantic found that most cities don’t track whether sexual assaults occurred in a taxi or a ridesharing vehicle, making it virtually impossible to assess which is more dangerous. And a recent BuzzFeed investigation into leaked internal data on Uber’s sexual assault-related customer service tickets concluded that the number of sexual assaults committed by Uber drivers in a 33-month period could be anywhere between five and 6,160.
What is clear, though, is that services that require fingerprinting as part of their background checks are likely to be safer, and that if something bad did happen to you in a vehicle, you’d have an easier time suing for damages if you’d used a traditional taxi service rather than a ridesharing app.
“While Uber has been fighting hard against fingerprinting, it seems that it would be in Uber’s best interest to ensure the safety of its riders to concede this point and provide its customers what they want,” Oved tells WomensHealthMag.com. “But until they do, perhaps it’s better to use a company that fingerprints its drivers, as well as have them undergo a comprehensive background check. We always have a choice.”
Should You Find a New Way to Ride?
Former Uber driver Michael Pelletz says it was his wife Kelly’s fear of becoming an Uber driver that inspired him to launch SafeHer (formerly dubbed “Chariot for Women”), a ridesharing service exclusively for women that will employ only female drivers. The app is expected to be up and running by the fall of 2016—if all goes according to plan.
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Another women-only ridesharing app, SheTaxis (formerly “SheRides”), attempted to launch in 2014, but, according to the Observer, was unable to get off the ground after activists and male drivers threatened to sue them, alleging discriminatory hiring practices. The company plans to relaunch this summer, but the Observer reports that men will now be welcomed as both passengers and drivers. According to The Boston Globe, civil rights lawyers have suggested that other ridesharing apps marketed exclusively to female drivers and passengers will likely face similar legal hurdles.
Thus far, existing ridesharing apps have all declined to offer passengers the option to choose a female driver, although Sidecar, a newer ride-sharing app that’s currently only available in 10 cities, does allow passengers to choose their driver from a list of who is available.
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Ultimately, if we want to live in a world where a woman can get into a car with a male stranger (or walk down any public street alone, for that matter) and not have to fear for her safety, we need to ensure that all men understand the importance of consent and sexual equality—starting at a young age.
In the meantime, there are a few common sense steps you can take to protect yourself when ridesharing: Check the other customer reviews for your driver when you can, make sure someone knows where you’re headed, screenshot your driver’s info, and trust your gut. If you don’t feel comfortable getting into someone’s car, just don’t.
Uber did not respond to WomensHealthMag.com’s request for comment by time of publication.