HOW TO USE UBER DRIVERS
HOW TO USE UBER DRIVER

Be wary if the driver asks you to sit in a certain seat. This seat will allow you to watch the driver, the road and have access to an exit. Sit in the back seat on the passenger side They also map their way during the ride with Google maps to make sure the driver isn’t straying from the best route. She says she and her friends text each other to say when they are expected to arrive, especially at night. Gabi Estrada, a college student in upstate New York, uses ride-hailing services a few times a week. Another safety habit she suggests is to call a friend (or your own voice mail) so the driver can hear you say something along the lines of “I just got into the car and will meet you at the house in 20 minutes.” Riders should make the driver aware that they “have their wits about them and that they are not vulnerable,” Ms. If you are feeling threatened in any way, tell the driver you’ve shared this information.ĭana Lockhart of the Seattle Police Department’s Victims Support Team encourages groups of friends to add each other’s contact information to ride-share apps so they can more easily share their rides.

Uber, Lyft and a few other apps offer passengers the ability to share their trip status and tracking, as well as the driver’s name, photo and license plate. Tell a friend or family where you are going Greening said, and probably the most important one. Confirm you are getting in the right carįirst match the car’s model, license plate and driver’s photo to the app.Īnd rather than offering your name when you open the car door, ask: “Who are you here for?” “Once you are inside the car, it’s much more difficult to protect yourself,” he said. Standing out on the street holding your phone makes you a target for driver impersonators, who will hope that your guard is down and you will get in their car, said Bryant Greening, an attorney who works with accident and assault victims and is a co-founder of the Chicago-based law firm. Wait in a busy well-lit area or indoors if you can until you receive the notification that the driver has arrived.

HOW TO USE UBER DRIVERS

New ride-hailing services like Safr are focusing on serving female drivers and female passengers. Both Uber and Lyft, the other leading ride-hailing company, post advice for staying safe in a ride share on their websites, and also offer safety features that allow passengers and drivers to share their location and call 911. While that number represents a small fraction of its total rides, it’s still a scary possibility to customers who want to safely use the service. Uber recently revealed that more than 3,000 incidents of sexual assault were reported last year in its vehicles in the United States.

How to use uber