Uber Reports Fewer Sexual Assaults but Greater Rate of Deaths During Rides:
After lawsuits and calls for greater rider protections, Uber released its second safety report, disclosing that during 2019 and 2020, there were fewer sexual assaults but a greater rate of deaths in the course of giving rides.
Uber reported that 1.4 billion rides were taken in the US in 2019 but only 650 million in 2020, a slowdown attributed to the pandemic when trips taken decreased by as much as 80% in April 2020. The report concluded that 99.9% of those trips ended without a safety issue, though there were also 101 deaths by crashes. Also, 20 people were killed in assaults related to a trip, an increase of 18% compared with 2017 and 2018, the period which Uber's first safety report covered.
Uber said the rise in assaults followed national trends of an increase in violent homicides, which rose 30% between 2019 and 2020, according to Pew Research. As for the 101 deaths caused by crashes, Uber says 67 were the fault of third-party drivers impaired by alcohol, speeding or driving the wrong way -- though three accounts linked a death to an Uber driver who was speeding. The remaining deaths involved unbuckled riders and other drivers, as well as pedestrians, bicyclists and third-party motorcyclists, though the report didn't explain who caused their deaths.
Even considering the fewer rides taken due to the pandemic, the rate of sexual assault related to Uber rides declined 38%, with 3,824 reports filed in 2019 and 2020 compared with the 5,981 sexual assaults in the 2017-2018 period, when Uber provided 2.3 billion rides. While most types of sexual assault dropped by 20% or more, rape had the least rate of reduction with 388 reports, down from 466 in the 2017-2018 period.
[...] Uber released its first report in late 2019 and has committed to releasing another every two years. The 2021-22 report will reflect other efforts Uber has made to increase safety for drivers and riders, like slowly rolling out the capability to record audio of rides and expanding its RideCheck feature to check in when rides take unexpected routes or make unscheduled stops.
(Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Saturday July 02 2022, @10:42AM
In the interests of transparency, I think that publishing such safety reports is good for users of Uber. I hope that this leads an increased awareness of safety issues which still need to be addressed. While a majority of driving accidents may not be the fault of Uber drivers, one worrying trend is the number of rapes !!
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Saturday July 02 2022, @07:20PM
At least in states where women cannot get abortions for any reason.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday July 02 2022, @07:37PM
We had a fairly detailed simulation [theguardian.com] of how this could happen a while back. How long until they correlate the simulated economic pressures and behavioral factors to real-world ones?
(Score: 2) by srobert on Sunday July 03 2022, @01:23AM
The details are in the post, but the title is hard to parse. They report fewer, or they actually had fewer? And fewer than what? its competitor, Lyft? Fewer than in previous years? That's a great ad campaign: "Uber, Now with Less Sexual Assault! For those who prefer the original sexual assault experience there's 'Uber Classic'!"
(Score: 1) by tbuskey on Monday July 04 2022, @01:51PM
How much safer are taxis with a license and a brand than a random driver with an app?