🚨 You must read this before your next Uber ride
⚠️ Warning: This story contains details about sexual assault that may be disturbing.
I know two women who were raped by an Uber driver. That’s not hearsay or a story I read online. They trusted the ride, believed the app was safe and paid the price in the most horrific way possible.
Now, The New York Times (paywall link) has just uncovered something you need to know: Between 2017 and 2022, Uber got a report of sexual assault or misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes, based on sealed court records, despite the company publicly claiming such incidents were vanishingly rare.
Yes, you read that right, every eight minutes. The court documents show 400,181 trips linked to sexual misconduct in five years. Women are almost always the victims.
Publicly, Uber brags about safety
They say 99.9% of rides happen without incident. Internally, they studied the demographics and patterns like late-night pickups near bars, intoxicated passengers and low-rated drivers with past complaints.
They even tested tools to make rides safer: pairing women with female drivers, adding in-car cameras and using smarter ride-matching. But they didn’t roll them out widely.
Why not?
The shocking truth
Because it might cost too much, slow down growth or upset the way they classify drivers as “independent contractors,” not employees. That saves Uber a fortune in benefits, overtime and supervision, but it also means less oversight and accountability.
Uber’s documents show many attacks follow predictable patterns. They could have warned people. They could have stopped some of these assaults. Instead, they stayed quiet.
Rideshare rules
For starters, do not be alone in an Uber. If you must, follow these rules.
- Share your trip and location in the app with a friend or family member before you get in.
- Triple-check the driver and car. The license plate, make, model and photo must match exactly.
- Sit in the back seat, so you have space and a quick exit if needed.
- Use the in-app safety features like RideCheck and the 911 button.
- Trust your gut. If something feels off, end the ride. Call 911 if you feel unsafe.
- If you’ve been drinking, have a sober friend ride with you or find another way home.
Better yet, choose a Waymo or another self-driving taxi. No stranger behind the wheel means one less risk to worry about.
There is no acceptable level of assault or misconduct. Uber’s data shows this problem isn’t random, it’s systemic. Yes, there are plenty of decent law-abiding rideshare drivers, but you have to be safe.
🙏🏻 Please, don’t keep this to yourself. Use the share icons below with your friends and family, you will be protecting someone you love.
Tags: cameras, family, home, love, space
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