Ride Share Safety: What You Must Know
Getting from here to there is a necessity for almost all of us - we have places to go. Options such as walking, utilizing public transportation, driving our own respective vehicles, or paying for ride share all exist. The decision is based upon cost, convenience and, sometimes, necessity. And, for many of us, especially survivors, our decision is made with safety as a very high priority.
“Our desperate need for safety causes us to be hypervigilant.”
This layer of safety goes beyond ensuring that our respective vehicles are properly maintained; wearing our seatbelts while driving; or, having the appropriate amount of rest so that we can fully focus on the road while driving. It sets in the fear of the other person(s) in the car with us while we’re traveling. Our desperate need for safety causes us to be hypervigilant about ensuring we’re taking the route, and ensuring that we get to the final destination without emotional or sexual harm.
Ride share services provide tremendous convenience and have high reliability of ensuring that we get to our intended final destination. However, they also provide a potential increased risk of sexual assault. This is due to unknown or unforeseen threats posed by each contracted driver. The assumption is that each driver is safe. But, even thorough background checks cannot assess for the threat of of a customer being driven by a potential sexual predator. Unless there is already a criminal conviction that shows on a background check, no one knows exactly how safe each contracted driver truly is.
There have been numerous accusations of sexual assaults, stalkings and physical abuse instances about drivers across various ride companies. It’s definitely an issue. While each company has publicly addressed the allegations and made strides to improve rider safety, there still are some actions we each can take to help improve safety while using ride share services.
To help us ensure safety for ourselves and the people we care about, the team at Cutter Law are providing this free comprehensive guide. In it, you can find information about how to stay safe and available options in case a sexual assault takes place.
Disclaimer: This blog post was written with resources provided by a thrid party. Content in this post is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional advice or consultation with healthcare professionals. Seek the advice of legal, medical, trauma informed and/or other health care professionals regarding any condition or treatment and never disregard or delay treatment because of content that has been either read or seen on this website.
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