Today, rideshare companies have become a regular part of daily life in most major cities, as well as many smaller ones, towns, and communities. They offer a service that certainly has value; ridesharing is convenient, easy to use, and affordable. And in general, Uber vehicles are typically clean and maintained, and the drivers are, for the most part, safe, considerate drivers. There’s a lot of pluses, indeed. However, no system is ever perfect, and for those rare times, you encounter an unsafe driver Uber provides an avenue for reporting them, with the ultimate goal of taking dangerous drivers out of… Read More
The town of Jupiter, FL has adopted a unique program to reduce drunk driving arrests and to help prevent drunk driving accidents on major holidays. By setting aside enough money to cover Uber rides of up to $15 over New Year’s Eve, the town was able to cut drunk driving arrests to zero during the same period. The town used the same voucher program over the Fourth of July weekend a few months before. Ilan Kaufer, a Jupiter Councilmember, was inspired to adopt the program when a college friend was badly hurt in an alcohol-related accident. Kaufer wanted to prevent… Read More
Hit-and-run accidents can lead to severe consequences and may involve moving vehicles, pedestrians, people on bicycles, parked cars, or any other property that has been struck and left at the scene. Parties involved in a hit-and-run can even include rideshare drivers, such as Uber or Lyft. These types of hit-and-runs can get very complicated. If a rideshare driver causes a collision and flees the scene of the accident, finding information on that driver can become a daunting task. Confronting a large rideshare company, such as Uber, can also be challenging and stressful. Hiring a knowledgeable and experienced rideshare lawyer who’ll… Read More
One of South Florida’s very popular downtown destinations, Delray Beach, is well known for its overcrowding and traffic delays. The beach plans to curb these issues by implementing seven new zones, off of Atlantic Avenue, for rideshare drivers to drop off their passengers and deliveries. From now on, anyone who is using a rideshare service, like Uber or Lyft, will be required to get in or out of the vehicle only in the designated zones, which are about a block off of the city’s main avenue, during the peak hours of 5 p.m. to 3 a.m.. Signs clearly mark the… Read More
The future is here. It may come as a surprise to some, but self-driving Ubers have already been zipping around in select cities since December of 2016. Uber is very proud of their autonomous vehicle program and Uber officials believe that it will increase road safety, claiming that autonomous driving may decrease traffic deaths by 94% by eliminating human error. If those numbers hold true, traffic fatalities in the U.S. could drop from 40,000 per year to just 2,400; thus, it’s easy to see why Uber is enthused about the possibilities. However, progress was halted after the widely publicized autonomous… Read More
Disney announced that its new Lyft partnership was set to launch on June 18. Disney has jumped into the rideshare industry, to an extent, in that it has partnered with Lyft and launched new service in advance of their opening of the anticipated, ‘Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge’ attraction at both, Walt Disney World® Resort and Disneyland® Resort. Disney executives expect to see a significant rise of vehicles due to the incredible interest in the new attraction, thus the Lyft partnership will offer great convenience and bolster transportation opportunities. Under the guidelines of this new partnership, Lyft will become a bigger… Read More
Despite touting customer safety and protection as its number one priority including a supposedly rigorous screening process for its drivers, Uber has found itself in the spotlight several times in recent years due to Uber drivers accused of assaulting customers, driving recklessly, and causing fatalities. How is this happening, and what needs to be done about it? According to a 2018 audit of Uber carried out by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), Uber’s required background check and safety screening process fails to account for a number of factors, and this failure is putting people at risk. In addition to… Read More
It’s been nearly a decade since the rise of ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft. Seemingly ubiquitous, Uber and Lyft vehicles can be located and used with the touch of a button nearly anywhere in the nation, offering an on-demand, affordable, and convenient form of transportation, and transforming the way many people get around. But what other impacts have ridesharing services had? According to a new study from University of Chicago and Rice University, the rise of ridesharing services is correlated with a rise in fatal auto accidents nationwide, which calls into question the safety of these services and calls… Read More
On March 18, 2018, the first fatal accident involving a self-driving Uber was captured on video. The death of Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, Arizona will undoubtedly generate questions and criticisms directed toward the application of this emerging technology and the state regulations that have encouraged its implementation. Elaine Herzberg was walking her bike across a relatively darkened and empty street around 10 p.m. when she was struck by the autonomous Uber. The police have released two videos of the incident, one of which shows the collision itself. The video inside the Uber is 14 seconds long and shows the operator,… Read More
On the evening of November 3rd, 2014 in West Sacramento, 24-year old male Shane Holland and his boyfriend Brady Lawrence, 24, ordered a ride from the popular car-service company Lyft. During the home from a costume party, their Lyft driver, Shanti Adhikari, who was 31 at the time, swerved in the rainy weather conditions to avoid crashing into a stalled car that was stopped in front of him on the freeway. As a result of the swerving, Adhikari hit a tree on the road’s shoulder. Holland died immediately at the scene, even though he was wearing a seatbelt. The accident… Read More
