Ridesharing is now a serious issue, with major rideshare companies gaining significant stakes in the American transportation business. Arguments have been canvassed on the benefits and disadvantages of ride-hailing services. Whatever the opinion, it's certain that these ride-hailing firms have significant accident rates. If you survive a ride-sharing accident, an excellent rideshare accident lawyer can file a personal injury claim on your behalf. It would be best to contact the best accident law firm to start your case.

Which Is Safer, Taxi or Uber?

Essentially, the question is, do ride-sharing services like Uber offer potential passengers better safety than conventional taxi rides, and vice versa? This is an important question to answer before making that potentially life-changing decision to patronize any ride-hailing firm, especially Uber.

Driver Safety Requirements

To drive an Uber or taxi, one must pass a background check. Uber claimed that its background checks are so rigorous that they disqualified more than one million prospective drivers in 2017 and 2018 alone. After the background check, drivers must also have one year of driving experience. They must also show proof of personal auto insurance, driver's license, and residence.

The background check for taxi drivers is similar to Uber's. It's basic taxi driving requirements such as having a clean driving record, passing an exam, acing on-the-job training, drug testing, etc. Though similar, it'll appear that Uber has a more thorough driver selection process.

Furthermore, Uber claims that its vehicles are also newer than the other taxis. With claims that their cars are around four years old, this may not be false. However, Uber and its rideshare vehicles are less accountable since their drivers use private cars.

Finally, the Uber app offers a measure of safety and security as passengers can see particular drivers' info and ratings. Also, riders can get cars from their location without the stress and danger of going out to stop a cab.

There's no foolproof means of determining whether taxis are safer than Uber and vice versa. We can only weigh the safety with the indices above. You can follow the tips below to boost your security on a rideshare ride:

• Confirm the identity of your driver before entering the vehicle
• Sit behind the driver to maximize the two exits in case you're in danger
• Wear your seatbelt and inform someone whenever you're using an Uber
• Contact a personal injury attorney if you have an Uber-related accident

What Happens if an Uber Driver Gets Into an Accident? Rideshare Accident Statistics.

After every car accident, many things happen, such as receiving treatment for injuries and recovering. However, and most importantly, the fault party should be held responsible for a victim's injury or wrongful death. The case isn't different with Uber accidents.

Texas Uber and Lyft accident claims are a lot more complicated than ordinary car accident claims. If you're injured in motor vehicle accidents, you file a claim against the driver and their insurance company. However, it's slightly different with Uber claims.

Below we examine who victims can file a personal injury claim against.

The Uber Driver's Personal Automobile Insurance

An Uber rideshare driver has to take out significant liability insurance on their vehicles. However, the driver's personal auto insurance applies when the driver is offline or the driver's app is off. Therefore, an Uber driver's personal policy may not cover you.

Uber's Insurance Coverage

Previously, Uber and other ride-hailing firms weren't really responsible for ride-sharing accidents because their drivers are independent contractors. However, where the driver is available or waiting for a ride request, Uber now provides insurance. The insurance coverage is up to:

• $50,000 in bodily injury per person
• $100,000 in bodily injury per accident
• $25,000 in property damage per accident

Furthermore, where the ride-hailing drivers are en route to pick up passengers and during trips, Uber increases the third-party liability insurance to $1,000,000. So, an Uber driver's accident liability depends on the cases' facts.

How Many Deaths Has Uber Caused?

If you're going to use a rideshare app like Uber's, it's essential to know how many fatal crashes they've recorded. This will help you make an informed decision. Furthermore, it sheds more light on whether ride-hailing firms like Uber are safer than a taxi.

Uber, like normal taxis, has had its fair share of traffic accidents, and some of them have been fatal crashes. So, how common are these Uber deaths? In December 2019, Uber published a Safety Report. The report covered the 2017-2018 period, and the company sourced data from drivers, riders, and insurance companies.

Within this timeframe, there were about 3.1 million uber trips daily in the US. Of all these Uber trips, there were 97 fatal crashes that resulted in 107 deaths. Therefore, the Uber fatality rate for 2017 was 0.59 fatalities per 100 million traveled miles. Meanwhile, the fatality rate for 2018 was 0.57. If Uber caused 107 deaths in two years, that might give you an idea of the overall number of fatalities ride-hailing drivers have caused.

The report went on to show that 90% of the Uber-related fatal car crashes occurred in urban areas. Furthermore, 21% of the fatalities were their drivers, and another 21% were riders using the Uber platform. Finally, third parties suffered the remaining deaths. If your loved one died an Uber-related death, a rideshare accident lawyer could get you justice.

Can You Request a Female Driver With Uber?

Females make up a significant percentage of ride-hailing companies' market share. However, these female rideshare passengers are at great risk of sexual assaults from their rideshare drivers. Two separate reports supply proof of this sexual assault endemic in Uber.

Firstly, there's the CNN Report on an uber driver who raped his passenger. CNN went further to conduct an investigation and found that victims have accused at least 103 Uber drivers of sexual assault or abuse within a four-year timeframe. Furthermore, Uber's sexual assault data further provides insights into this issue.

To escape sexual and other non-sexual assaults, potential passengers want to know if they can request a female driver from Uber. Unfortunately, such selection is impossible on Uber's platform. This is because when you request a ride, Uber directs you to drivers near your pickup location.

A passenger cannot even choose a specific driver on the app, whether male or female. On the other hand, with taxi and limo companies, you can request a female driver. However, if you prefer ride-hailing firms, there are a couple that employs only female drivers. Some are:

• SheSafe
• Safr
• DriveHer
• Sheba
• See Jane Go

If you can't get a female driver, you can employ general safety measures. For instance, never enter an Uber if you think there's something wrong with the driver.

What Is the Most Common Rideshare Accident?

There are many types of car accidents. Each type of auto crash has varying effects. The crash type can also determine if it'll result in fatal accidents or only injuries. The most prevalent kind of car accident is the angle and rear-end collisions.

An angle collision also called a side collision, occurs when a vehicle hits another car at either 90 or 180 degrees. As the name implies, a rear-end collision occurs when a car crashes into the car in front of it. These crashes frequently happen on highways, interstates, intersections, and even residential areas.

According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), at 33%, rear-end crashes are the highest sources of accident injuries. Similarly, angle crashes make up 26% of injury-causing crashes.

Furthermore, 18.6% of fatal accidents were angle collisions. Also, 7% of auto accident deaths were from rear-end crashes. Rear-end and angle collisions may be the most prevalent forms of car accidents; however, there are many other crash types, including:

• Head-on collisions
• Single-vehicle collisions
• Intersection collisions
• Pedestrian collisions
• Parking lot accidents
• Multi-vehicle crashes
• T-bone accidents
• Merging accidents
• Multi-car accidents
• Low-speed accidents

Each of these car crash types is dangerous and could be fatal or cause devastating injuries. If you survive any of them, it'll be best to seek immediate medical attention. Proper medical treatment can significantly reduce your time you spend on treatment for injuries. It can also increase your chances of winning a personal injury claim.

Can You Survive a 70 Mph Crash?

Traffic accidents don't always result in death. Sometimes, the victims merely escape with varying degrees of injuries. Several factors lead to a fatal auto accident, one of which, according to studies, is speed. Therefore, your chances of surviving a crash often depend on how fast the vehicle was going.

You can survive a car crash at 70 mph in theory because many people have survived car accidents at outrageously high speeds. However, let's look at the statistics. In 2019, speeding was a significant factor in 26% of traffic fatalities. That means that speeding contributed to about 26 out of 100 accidents in America.

Furthermore, the figures show that a whopping 48% of all the speeding-related accidents for 2019 occurred in 55+ mph crashes. Clearly, the statistical progression showed that the faster Americans drove in 2019, the greater the possibility that they'll die if they had accidents. These facts are from a study that analyzed the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

From the statistics, it's clear that you're highly unlikely to survive a crash at 70 mph. When a vehicle collision occurs, the impact transfers kinetic energy from the moving vehicle to another object. This could be a person, object, or another car. Therefore, the greater the speed, the greater the kinetic energy transferred and the higher the possibility of death if it's a human. So, always ask your rideshare driver to slow down.

We Can Make Rideshare Drivers and Companies Pay for Hurting You!

Do you have any complaints of accident injuries against ride-hailing firms? You can institute a personal injury claim to get compensation for medical treatment or property damage. However, ridesharing accidents are in a more specialized field than other accident lawsuits. So, it'll be best to hire a lawyer with specialist knowledge, skill, and experience in this field. Our rideshare accident attorneys at Glenn Law Firm fit this description. If you call us today, we'll dedicate our resources to getting you the maximum compensation.