In the past ten years, a transformative shift has been observed in the rideshare platforms. With the introduction of new rideshare apps, it has become very convenient, easy, and affordable to travel around the world.
The traditional model included hailing cabs on the streets, which would cause a lot of disruption. So, the new model works only by using a few taps on the phone. Now, with these technologies helping us in riding, they also ring a bell about safety in everyone’s head.
So, it is very important to verify the identity of the driver whenever a person thinks of getting a car share ride. It is the job of every company to make sure that the safety of the passengers is taken care of.
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Risks of Unverified Drivers
Not verifying the drivers while using a rideshare service can be risky and carries potential dangers with it. There have been a number of incidents reported, and the consequences of the cases always get down to riding with unverified drivers.
Here are some of the risks mentioned:
Crime: The drivers can have intentions where they think of robbing the passengers during a car ride. They also can have thoughts of assaulting the passengers. So, not sitting with the verified drivers can be a huge risk as this is like calling the crime to visit your way.
Safety Considerations: One of the most critical risks here is the personal safety risk. A lot of times, there can be impersonators sitting in a car as a driver. They might have been sitting there with certain safety risks and might have come to harm you, abduct you, or cause physical harm.
Unaccountability: If you do not take verification of your diver seriously, it can become a challenge to trace the ride back to the relevant person if something goes wrong.
Risk of Privacy: When you don’t verify your driver, you are at a very high risk of sharing information that is not meant to be shared. This is also like sharing your information with a stranger that you know nothing about. This can increase the risk of privacy breaches and unwanted tracking.
Financial Frauds: Some of the fake drivers can also come up with financial scams. These usually come in the form of charges that the drivers ask you for the ride. Sometimes, you can also see making efforts to do transactions from your payment method linked.
Steps for the Passenger’s Safety
The rideshare companies have now developed some of the best safety tools to help keep the passenger’s safety intact.
In-App Safety Tools
The in-app safety tools include:
Emergency Button: Some apps have emergency buttons that can help you connect with the local emergency services. This feature is beneficial for some of the dangerous situations that can occur on the ride.
Safety Toolkit: It is one of the features that have been introduced by the rideshare companies in order to keep the safety of the passengers in check. This includes the option to rideshare, emergency help, and access to the safety center.
Informing Someone of Your Ride
In a lot of the apps, the feature of rideshare can help a lot with the safety of the passengers. In this ridesharing, the trip details are shared that including the information of the driver and the ETA. You can choose who you want to share your ride with.
This will make sure that the people who are related to you know where you are roaming around and can keep a strict check on you.
You can also do one of the best things for your safety: stay on call with someone throughout the ride. This always gives a heads-up to the driver if he is even thinking of doing a foul act.
Wait Inside till the Driver Arrives
When you are taking a ride at odd hours, especially at night time, make sure that you wait for the ride inside the building or your home.
This certainly reduces the chances of any mishap happening to you. Also, it is usually understood by people that you need to keep waiting inside when it comes to bad weather conditions. So it is always best to keep your safety first in mind and take all the measures that you can in your control.
Conclusion
When it comes to ridesharing, it must be taken into consideration that the safety of the passenger is the number one priority. Now, this is obviously the duty and the responsibility of the company to take care of. But, a lot of times, the responsibility also relies on the passengers to keep themselves ready with all the safety in their hands.