How many times have you used a rideshare company to go to the airport at an odd hour? Catching an early morning flight can require you to travel to the airport as early as 3:30 am if you want to be sure to get through security and get on the plane. We have all grown so accustomed to the convenience of paging an Uber on the app but how safe are these Rideshare company rides? I can tell you from personal experience that some are great and some are terrible. Last year I had an early morning flight from Philadelphia International and my rideshare driver picked me up at 3:45 am. As we were going down the expressway, there was a repeated beeping for many minutes. I finally leaned over to see what was happening and realized the driver was crossing over the lines on the highway. He wasn't staying within his lane! I was mortified. I realized he was falling asleep behind the wheel. I thought about my options. I could tell him to pull over and let me out, but would a sane person get out of a car on the Schuylkill Expressway at 3:45 a.m.? I was going to have to come up with something else. I immediately started up a lively conversation with him to make sure he was fully awake but my nerves were frayed. Of course some of these drivers are sleep deprived. This a usually a side-gig for the driver who has some other full time or part time job and often has a spouse and kids. This driver admitted to me he had not slept yet and had been driving since 8 pm the night before. When I got out of the Uber, I thanked God I had made it safely to the airport.
I don't know what training or rules the rideshare companies impose on drivers but I would imagine many of them aren't enforced unless the driver is somehow caught with a violation.
I have represented many folks who have been passengers in rideshare vehicles and who have been seriously injured. I have also represented many rideshare drivers when other vehicles hit theirs. These cases are not like cases involving non-rideshare vehicles and the insurance issues are somewhat distinct from those on private passenger motor vehicles. Not all lawyers handle rideshare accident cases and you should seek one who has handled many such cases.
In a recent case, the rideshare driver ran into a pedestrian in a crosswalk because he was unfamiliar with the college campus he was driving through and was distracted by his driver app. He was also 80 years old! I don't know if or how his age played into this but isn't there an age cutoff for who can be a driver? Is it 90? Or are rideshares not allowed to use age cut-offs? I don't know but I am now forewarned that you might be taking your life in your hands if you get the wrong driver at the wrong moment. On a recent trip to Portugal, I opted to use a private driver rather than rideshare because I wanted to make sure I got to my destination alive. It was a relaxing journey because I knew the driver was awake, experienced and familiar with the crazy roads. Plus he spoke several languages which was reassuring in case we had a breakdown or were pulled over by the police. It was slightly more expensive but this was vacation and I considered it part of the price of traveling (safely).
If you have been in an accident driving for a rideshare company or as a passenger in an Uber or Lyft, call Worthington Law Group at 215-576-5150 for a free, no obligation consultation.
