A growing number of the Uber drivers and the consequences of cheaper and faster transport could be reached in expense of greater risks and lack of safety. All should know the safety stakes of getting into the Uber car. The real question is does the new online transportation or rideshare network as one of the fastest growing industries in the world with the provision of a more convenient and substantial service than traditional taxi cap represents greatest safety risks for the customers.
Uber Technologies Inc. (Uber) is the largest online transportation network company and one of the most popular mobile applications, providing transportation by non-commercial drivers. Although, such transportation mobile app really offers an excellent platform for both drivers and passengers, it has brought out a lot of safety issues. The driving skills and the lack of a strict background check system of the drivers has always been the largest concern. For example, Uber only requires a basic background provided by the drivers who want to register. Compared to taxi companies that use Live Scan, a fingerprinting service that checks for matches in the FBI and state databases for criminal record, Uber’s policy on background check of drivers has always been critiqued for not being as safe as traditional taxi companies.
There were other safety issues raised about Uber with various cases in courts all around the globe, because of the Uber’s app possible distraction of drivers. There were various reports about the assaulted passengers by Uber drivers in Washington DC. The safety is one of the most important issues about Uber. Uber company shares causal as well as moral responsibility for the well-being of the passengers which could result in greater background check efforts on drivers.
The aim is to answer the research question whether taxi caps are safer than Uber transportation. The main safety issues of the Uber company will be discussed. First the reasons giving the rise to the safety issues which include various other background information about the problems will be examined, following with the main safety issues raised in the public and the mass media Uber will face in the near future and their reasons. The paper will examine the thesis that traditional taxi ride is safer that Uber ride because of the insurance, background check and inspections of vehicle issues.
Reasons giving rise to the safety issues
The ride sharing business model is based on the smartphone app connectivity between the drivers and consumers with passengers paying lower prices as with taxis, since they pay mileage-based fees. The competition has intensified with emerging of Uber services in the transportation market. The regulation of taxis is more comprehensive since they appeared way back in 1920s with evolving regulations regarding fares, market entry, safety, insurance and service requirements along with the non-discrimination rules. The high search costs, which represent issues for taxis have with Uber decreased with the internet platform, with supply and demand market prices. The differences between taxis and Uber drivers are seen also from the employment perspectives and higher costs for the cab companies since they need to compensate taxes and costs with employment such as wage laws and possible unionization (Rogers, 86-89). There have been the benefits for the consumers of Uber seen with a sharing economy model with enhancing the consumers’ welfare. The disadvantages and safety concerns are different rules for Uber and taxi drivers, that work in the same sector under different rules. With the part-time workers being on the street in peak hours the Uber drivers have entered the market without the regulation and fare schedules. The low prices are tending for Uber to become a monopoly. The third issue at a point is the underinsured and unsafe drivers and cars. There can also be seen the invasion of the costumers’ privacy along with the enabling the discrimination by consumers and drivers. On the other side are also the issues of undermining working standards for drivers and various different concerns about low wages have emerged (Rogers, 90-91). Uber is impacting the car-hire sector with eliminating the transaction costs with creating a free market for car-hire as well as enhancing the vertical and horizontal integration of the sector (Rogers, 86). Further on the safety issue will be examined in more detail.
The new emerging mobile technologies have impacted the travelling market. The new business models such as Uber has been established which are not black car services and neither are taxis. With the new provision of transfer services, the security and safety concerns have been raised. This kind of transport has been labeled as the shared economy ground transportation, which is based on the collaborative consumption available via the online marketplace which enables the communication between the private drivers and potential customers. The individuals that provide services are not transportation service providers. There are various different questions raised such as training of those service providers, questions regarding the security, insurance and safety standards, drug testing and regulations about the maintenance standards of the vehicles (Brossman, 90-97). The safety issues are raised because of the liability insurance coverage and criminal background checks along with the vehicle inspection which typical cost between 35 and 40% of all typical taxi companies’ operating costs. The low costs are based on the opponents achieved with the reduction of the consumer and communities’ safety (Feeney, 2). First the vehicle inspections and insurance issues will be examined.
Inspection issue
First issue is that Uber does not require the regular vehicle inspections, but does need to meet the regular standards and regulations imposed by specific states. The taxis are inspected far more often in the major cities in the country and more often as the personal cars, which are in use by the Uber drivers (Feeney, 8). Various different cities in the country have introduced new legal frameworks for the new emerging business model of ridesharing and the regulations regarding the vehicle inspections, but there exist vast differences among different states and countries (Stephany, n. p.). Further on, drivers are not required to go through the same safety training courses and regulations as taxi drivers. What is more, the definition of the Uber safety requirements of working conditions for the vehicle are not detailed and are defined as a great working conditions without clearness who inspects the vehicles who does the vehicle background checks and how often (Brossman, 97). Based on the Brossman (95) the training of drivers and vehicle maintenance standards are hard to identify except of the vehicle body damage, air conditioning and hubcaps. Based on their Terms and Conditions: “// Uber does not provide transportation or logistics services or function as a transportation carrier. Uber does not guarantee the quality, sustainability, safety or ability of third party providers” (Brossman, 96).
Insurance issue
The second safety issue is the amount of insurance provided. The drivers, third parties and passengers are not adequately insured by the Uber transport, since they do not need to have the commercial insurance, which is more expensive as the privately owned insurance. Peer-to-peer ride sharing are not traditional insured by the commercial insurance for accidents in comparison to the company’s business insurances policies, such as taxis. This issue must be legally defined since the Uber company claims it is not liable if it comes to the ridesharing vehicle accident, since they are just the matching company between the riders and consumers. When the rider is not engaged in providing the transportation services the company is clearly not responsible for possible accidents, but it will yet to be seen it, they are in case of accidents when drivers is performing the transportation services. However, the company is offering $1 million work of primary coverage for death, injury and damage when comes to the accident by drivers’ fault or the fault of the other party (Feeney, 9-10). If one gets injured in the Uber ride, the company and the claim with the driver’s insurance company is denied the Uber will provide the liability coverage. Based on the Slee (56-63) the cab policies vary from state to state and the coverage of a taxi cab driver is between $250.000 and $250.000. The comparison shows that some state regulations of Taxis and Uber drivers that the coverage by Uber is greater than the coverage in case of being injured due the taxi driver mistake.
Background check issue
There are various issues of the effectiveness of the background checks inside the platform, without using the fingerprints and doing the background check for 7 years in the past. The application provides the customers the profile of the driver, the name, license plate number, rating and a photo, but there has been more than one car registered by one driver found. Background check by Uber is based on the collecting driver’s information and hence of personal information (Brosman, 97). It is done by the third party screening, which is accredited by the National Assn of Professional Background Screeners. The individuals are disqualified if they are found in the data of the Department of Justice’s State Sex Offender Registry or National Sex Offender Registry or database of terrorist suspects or been convicted in the last seven years for fraud, reckless driving, hit and run, violent crimes, felony, sexual offenses, fatal accidents, without the live scan of the fingerprints (Lien, n. p.). With the fingertips the background allows the access to the FBI’s criminal record database. The reasons why there are no complete background checks can be found in the costs correlated with them. However, the Uber is paying attention in the background check on different state record for the last seven years and they include National Sex Offender Registry, Social Security Trace, Motor Vehicles Records, The multi-state criminal database, Federal courthouse and the county courthouse record for every country of residence. Good driving record as well as the criminal record is the most important criteria to get hired by Uber. Feeney (6) has found out that Uber company stated criteria for the possible drivers’ background are not less strict as the taxi companies background check in the major Untied States cities. The author has found out that the rules of the Uber are even stricter than requirements for the traditional competitors of Uber. Taxi cabs regulations are less strict that the Uber regulation in Philadelphia, where the drivers’ applicants cannot have been convicted of the felony in the five-year prior the application. A background check is done by various different taxi companies in different cities for fewer years back in the past as by the Uber company and its criteria are therefore better compared to the applicants by the taxi drivers in major cities in the country. The major critic of Uber was that the safety regulations are not sufficient since they do not run a fingerprint background. This technique is carried out by taxi companies only in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Jose and are not carried out by the majority of the taxi companies which is usually pointed out in the mass media. The company uses the information on the background from two outside companies Hirease and SterlingBackchekcs. The companies check, the publically available records and sex offender registers for gathering the information about the applicants. The publicly known disadvantages of the FBI fingerprint checks are one reason more that the company does not need to implement them in the background screening until the legislation will make it obligatory (Feeney, 6-8). Besides the insurance, vehicle inspections and background checks there are also safety concerns of drivers.
Safety of Uber drivers
Safety of drivers also matters not only the safety of vehicle. The taxi drivers are one of the working groups that are under the greatest safety risks associated with rides for hire. Among them is a high rate of risks of being victimized by crime and the rate of occupational fatal injuries among them was many times higher than the rate of all workers. The reason for that could be found in the fact that they are caring money, providing services to strangers and are prone to robberies. The safety of Uber drivers is greater since they do not carry cash and passengers are not anonymous. In order for the consumer to get Uber rides must give credit card information and details about the account and the transaction is done automatically at the end of the trip which means no cash is needed because of the electronic payment. The introduction of no cash payments is correlated with the decreasing rates of crime. There were also pilot studies carried out in the past which showed that when paying with card instead of paper cash the overall crime rate decreased from around 9.8%. The supporters of the shared economy are stating the facts of greater safety because of the advantages about the knowing identity of their passengers as well as electronic payments (Fenney, 3-4).
Reasons giving rise to safety issues
The safety is one of the most important issues about Uber. Uber company shares causal as well as moral responsibility for the well-being of the passengers which could result in greater background check efforts on drivers. In cases of attack the passenger will be able to identify the driver, which is in taxis company possible only by remembering the car license plates, which means that criminal law could work even better. However, as has noted Rogers (93) there is no indication that the criminal law will deter assaults nor in taxis nor in Uber cars. With greater legalization and requirements and standards such as exact safety inspections, liability insurance levels, and background check on driver improvement will diminish the safety concerns for the consumers and could bring various benefits for the customers.
Similar conclusion was reached by the Cato Institute (Feeney, 1) since there was little evidence found that the sharing economy services are more dangerous than traditional taxis. The author points out the great benefits in comparison to the traditional taxis, since the reduction of violent crime is possible by giving the consumers cash-free transactions and self-identified customers. The company has faced protests by taxi drivers, jurisdiction concerns, political opposition and the safety consumers are based on the Feeney (2) overblown by industry groups with vast financial stakes at risks because of the possible changed status quo.
Conclusion
The good data to compare would be the number of accidents, fatal accidents and road tickets between the taxi drivers and Uber drivers in the country, but unfortunately such statistics is not available. By the Uber company there is no system that would collect the data of the accidents or injured and the system is based on the rating of the drivers and comments from the customers. The evidence and reports about the ridesharing show that there are no clear data of the potential great risks for the consumers when using the cheaper transport services by Uber in exchange of the traditional transportation by taxis. Saving the money does not mean putting yourself at a greater safety risk. Uber has become one of the greatest competitors which impacted on the decrease in registered taxi drivers as well as on the greater competitions, from which also various critiques derived. There are a lot of issues still remaining to be solved in the safety area, which will be improved with the greater state regulation of the ridesharing. All in all, Uber could improve some of the safety issues as well as taxi companies, which would increase the company’s reputation and also increased the passenger safety. To conclude the safety issues are raised as one of major concern to be focused on when talking about the Uber, but the debate should be focused on the preventing of monopoly as well as on the protection of workers’ rights and their income and on the protection of the customer rights.
Work cited
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Feeney, Matthew. Is Ridesharing safe? Cato Institute. Vol. 2015 (767): 1-16.
Lien, Tracey. Kalamazoo Shooting: Here’s How Uber Does its Background Checks. Los
Angeles Times. 2016. Web. <http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-uber-background-check-20160222-story.html>
Rogers, Brishen. The Social Costs of Uber. 2015. Law Review. Web.
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