Taking Uber? Here Are Tips for Staying Safe
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
“What’s my name?”
That’s what students and administrators at the University of South Carolina are urging people to ask before they get into a car, to be sure it’s the one they called via a ride-sharing app.
The public safety campaign follows the death of Samantha Josephson, a 21-year-old student who was killed last weekend after getting into a car she mistook for her Uber, the police said. Across the country, at least two dozen women have been attacked in recent years after making a similar mistake.
[Read about women being attacked by men posing as drivers .]
Asking that simple question — “What’s my name?” — would help keep riders safe, advocates said. Here are more tips for what you can do, according to law enforcement officials and ride-share companies:
Check the license plate, make and model of the car.
Ask the driver’s name.
Share your status.
Follow the light.
Call for help.
[Details for each of the above categories are in the seeded article.]
Related article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/us/fake-uber-driver-assaults.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
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Good article, thanks for posting.
Thank you, Pat. IMO, the info in the NYT articles is important to the safety of anyone who uses these services.
All good tips. The big problem with Uber is that they got started in business by simply taking phone calls and assigning the rides to people who didn't work for them. That saved a lot on overheard with that. No insurance, nor investment in cars or car upkeep, licensing or responsibility for what drivers did. For that kind of responsibility you need to go to all those companies they put out of business. That's the price of a technological advance that lets the tech savvy do it all anywhere with a cell phone & a credit card.