Rising risk of serious injury involving Uber or Lyft ridesharing services
Ridesharing is a worldwide phenomenon, where you can hire someone to drive you to your destination through the use of an application (app) on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Ridesharing competes with services provided by traditional taxi or cab companies, innovating public transportation not only by its app technology for both scheduling and payment of rides, but also with the informality of its drivers who are distinctly different from the customary “cabbie,” or taxi company driver-employee.
Ridesharing began several years ago when the Uber app debuted. It allowed people using the app to avoid the high cost of a cab ride by “sharing” the ride via the Uber app, which coordinated an Uber driver with riders along the route. Soon, other ridesharing services followed in Uber’s footsteps, the most well-known being Lyft.
Ridesharing in Illinois and Indiana: Uber, Lyft, and More
Today, “peer-to-peer ridesharing” is viewed by the government as a “travel alternative that can help accommodate the growth in urban travel demand, and alleviate some of the current problems such as excessive vehicular emissions.” For more, read Jayakrishnan, R., et al. “Promoting Peer-to-Peer Ridesharing Services as Transit System Feeders.” No. CA 16-2806. California. Department of Transportation, 2016.
Ridesharing is available throughout our part of the country. The most popular ridesharing companies in Indiana and Illinois are Uber and Lyft but there are other ridesharing options in both states, including Didi and Ola in Indianapolis. Migo.com reports 13 rideshare or bikeshare companies operating in the Chicago area alone.
Ridesharing Risks: Harm or Injury While Using Uber or Lyft
There are a variety of situations where someone can be seriously injured in a ridesharing circumstance. Some of these are accidents, where harm is the result of a mistake or neglect. Other injuries are the result of intentional conduct, including criminal acts. Ridesharing injuries can include:
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Sexual Assaults
- Bodily Assaults.
Ridesharing Companies Treated Differently Under the Law
Federal and state legislation is not keeping up with this growing transportation trend with statutes designed to protect rideshare victims. Today, ridesharing companies are not controlled by the same laws that protect customers of taxi services and cab companies.
Why? Legally, ridesharing companies have been considered differently: as computer software companies selling a software application that connects drivers with riders.
This has tremendous impact upon any situation where someone is hurt, injured, or killed while hiring, using, or disembarking from a rideshare.
Accident victims, as well as those who have been hurt from intentional acts (e.g., rape, sexual assault, and robbery) find themselves without the established legal protections they would have if they had chosen to ride with their local taxi cab company.
Uber’s Reputation for Fighting against Taking Responsibility
Until the laws change, Uber and Lyft and the other ridesharing companies are not required to operate under the same level of customer safety protections as traditional taxi cab companies. As a result, Uber leads the industry in defense arguments against the ridesharing app company being held liable in the event of a ridesharing accident or incident. For more, read “When rides go wrong: How Uber’s investigations unit works to limit the company’s liability,” written by Greg Bensinger and published on September 26, 2019, by the Washington Post.
The Insurance Policy Coverage Debate after an Uber Accident or Lyft Crash
Another dilemma that faces a ridesharing accident victim hurt in a motor vehicle accident or car crash involving an Uber or Lyft driver is determining where to file the bodily injury claim. Which insurance carrier provides coverage for the accident?
If someone is hurt or killed while riding in a taxi cab, the law is clear. The taxi cab’s insurance policy comes into play. Things are not so clear in a ridesharing accident.
In the case of an Uber crash, the victim may have to deal with the following carriers:
- The at-fault driver’s insurance company;
- The Uber driver’s insurance company; and
- Uber’s own insurance carrier.
Investigation will have to be made into whether or not the Uber driver had a commercial insurance policy covering his vehicle or if he was driving with only a personal car insurance policy. If so, then did that personal policy include an addendum for his ridesharing endeavors?
What about Uber itself? Will its coverage apply to the injury claims? According to its website, Uber carries third-party liability insurance coverage paying up to $1,000,000.00 for personal injuries and property damage per accident.
December 2019: Uber Safety Report
This month, Uber released its first “Safety Report” with research findings regarding fatal motor vehicle accidents involving Uber ridesharing as well as incidents of physical assault and sexual assault.
From its Executive Summary of that initial report, Uber reveals:
Fatal Uber Crashes
- There were 107 total fatalities in 2017 and 2018 across 97 fatal crashes reported in relation to the Uber app.
- Approximately 90% of Uber-related fatal crashes occurred in urban areas.
- 21% (n=22) of the fatalities in this report were drivers using the Uber platform; 21% (n=23) were riders using the Uber platform, and the rest were third parties.
- 8 of the drivers and riders using the Uber platform were fatally struck while they were outside the vehicle (and therefore counted as pedestrians in FARS).
- 30% of fatal crashes involved a pedestrian, 25% (n=8) of which were drivers or riders using the Uber platform who were outside the vehicle.
- Across 2017 and 2018, pedalcyclists were the deceased party in 2% (n=2) of cases.
Fatal Uber Physical Assaults
- Fatal physical assault was reported to occur in about 1 in every 122,000,000 US trips.
- Among the 19 deceased parties in 2017 and 2018 included in this report, 8 were riders using the Uber platform, 7 were drivers using the Uber platform, and 4 were third parties.
Uber Sexual Assaults
- Non-Consensual Kissing of a Non-Sexual Body Part was reported to occur in about 1 in every 2,000,000 completed trips.
- Attempted Non-Consensual Sexual Penetration was reported to occur in about 1 in 4,000,000 completed trips. This category covers a wide range of reports and includes attempted clothing removal and incident reports that are fragmented or incomplete due to memory loss or lack of event recall.
- Instances of Non-Consensual Touching of a Sexual Body Part were reported to occur in about 1 in every 800,000 trips.
- Non-Consensual Kissing of a Sexual Body Part was reported to occur in 1 in every 3,000,000 completed US trips.
- Non-Consensual Sexual Penetration—the most serious sexual assault category—was reported to occur in about 1 in 5,000,000 US trips, or on approximately 0.00002%33 of US trips.
Ridesharing Injury Victims in Indiana or Illinois
In our next post, we will discuss ways that justice can be sought for a ridesharing victim seriously injured or killed here in Illinois or Indiana.
Each of these ridesharing cases must be independently evaluated in order to determine not only all the responsible parties but also which parties can be made subject to formal claims for damages. Aggressive and thorough research must be undertaken to deal with known Uber defenses, such as their claims of no legal liability because the Uber driver is considered to be an “independent contractor.”
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed in a Uber crash, Lyft accident, or other ridesharing incident, then it is important to learn how state laws can help in the aftermath. Please be careful out there!
