On March 4, 2019, prosecutors in Arizona from the Yavapai County Attorney’s office said they had not found evidence to charge Uber for any crime related to the accident in Tempe, where one of the company’s autonomous vehicles hit and killed a pedestrian.

On March 18, 2019, Elaine Herzberg was hit by one of Uber’s self-driving Volvo sport utility vehicles. The SUV was traveling about 40 miles per hour. At the time, Herzberg had been walking her bicycle across the street at night. Even though the car was driving itself, there was a safety driver in the driver’s seat. When the crash occurred, the safety driver was streaming a television show on her phone. While she grabbed the steering wheel to swerve at the last second, she did not start braking until after impact.

When rideshare services like Uber and Lyft first became popular around 2010, they changed how many individuals were transported in cities and towns on a daily basis. Instead of walking or taking public transportation, people starting using ridesharing apps to order rides. While passengers have generally benefited from the services, there are significant costs associated with ridesharing. Among those costs is an increase in the loss of human life – particularly in big cities.

Economists associated with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business published a study called “The Cost of Convenience: Ridesharing and Traffic Fatalities.” According to that study, ridesharing is associated with an increase of two to three percent of fatal traffic accidents and car accident fatalities. This includes vehicle occupants, pedestrians, cyclists, and bystanders.

A tragedy has struck a college town that is making people examine safety methods when it comes to rideshares. Samantha Josephson entered a car she thought was her Uber around 2 a.m. on March 29 in Columbia, South Carolina. The car was a black Chevrolet Impala. The driver was not Josephson’s Uber driver, and the 21 year old student at the University of South Carolina was reported missing by her friends the next day. Josephson’s body was soon found by two turkey hunters 70 miles away in Clarendon County.

Since then, the police have arrested the driver, 24 year old Nathaniel D. Rowland. They’re charging him with murder and kidnapping, as they found traces of Josephson’s blood in his car, activated child safety locks in the back seat, and discovered Josephson’s phone along with bleach and window cleaner.

When you’re planning on using a rideshare service, everyone has a different method of choosing. You may be loyal to a specific company because you like their app or it’s what you’ve always used. Or, you might bounce back and forth in order to find the best deal. Regardless of whether you choose Lyft or Uber, it’s likely you’re aware of the possible dangers of getting into a car with a rideshare driver – as stories are all over the news.

You may have noticed that Uber accidents seem more common than crashes involving Lyft vehicles. A number of factors affect how these companies are portrayed in the media and why people are more aware of Uber wrecks. It’s important to note, however, that Uber and Lyft have not released data for accident rates, so it’s difficult to determine just how frequently rideshare accidents occur.

Planning out the logistics of using a car in a city involves knowing the quickest routes, where to park, and how much parking could cost. Many people choose to avoid this headache by using rideshare services like Uber or Lyft. As rideshare options are becoming more readily available to people all over the country, there are still important factors about the drivers that users should know.

Rideshare drivers are just like any other drivers—which means they can make mistakes if they act negligently or recklessly. If you’ve been in a car accident involving a rideshare driver, you can get justice. While these cases can be tricky, you can get the help of an Uber accident injury attorney from the Rideshare Law Group.