Community Chat

[songbird]

Getting in to a car thinking it was an uber. A simple mistake cost someone her life. 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/30/us/south-carolina-missing-college-student/index.html

I've never used an uber.  The few times I need a ride somewhere without my car, I've used taxi cabs.  It would arrive with in a car advertising that fact.  Not with ubers.  So I was wondering those that have used one, do you check to make sure that is your ride as was suggested in the article?

[Anonymous032819]

Yes, of course I check that the Uber sent, is the one that I ordered.

Who wouldn't do that?

Also, there is no guarantee that taxi drivers won't hurt you either.

[software]

I have to assume she was impaired, otherwise she could drive her own vehicle.

Shame on her friends for not waiting with her, or going with her.

[meallen616]

I too was disappointed that she was all alone, and, not with a friend or two.

[millieshops]

@Anonymous032819Sad to say, someone drunk enough to know she needed a ride, but too drunk to obey other safety considerations. (I blame the drinker, the alcohol, but most of all, the murderer who chose that night, that location to abduct and kill his target. He was the one who knew what he was doing.)

[Bri369]

It's very sad.

Someone that impaired not to make sure they're getting into the correct Uber shouldn't be alone.  

When you order an Uber, the driver and the car is shown to you so you make sure you're getting into the correct car with the correct driver.

[bonnielu]

Sad and totally possible.  I remember THE ONE UBER WE TOOK there was no way to know who the guy was.  No ID and he actually did not know where he was going.  I was on edge.  Was with hubby so I felt rather safe. 

[GSPgirl]

Does Uber do the same background checks as Taxi companies do?  

[dex]

@songbird that is the saddest story.The poor girl just trying to make the safest choice to get home and she mistakenly puts her trust in the devil.

I have used Uber and now I am wondering if it is a good choice.My ride was late at night and I got into the car with a stranger who happened to be a young woman.She was married to someone in the military and had five children.She told me that she drove at night when her dh was home to make a little extra cash.I had a nice conversation all of the way home about her kids and her life and thought I was safe but who knows who the next driver will be and what condition they will be in when they show up.

[Spurt]

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@GSPgirl wrote:

Does Uber do the same background checks as Taxi companies do?  

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@GSPgirl 

I dont know about other cities, but that was a big area of concern in our city when Uber came in and what was pointed out by the news and city officials and the companies themselves is that while Taxicabs require a background check and also vehicle mechanical safety inspections Uber didn't require it....when citizens balked....Uber gave drivers the option of having a background check done or not they use a startup service called Checker......... The company has mostly shunned the idea of adopting the standards for all its drivers. In contrast, Taxi companies check a prospective driver's fingerprint records against a database that theoretically includes a person's complete criminal history in the United States, Uber background checks use a database that can only go back seven years for some information.

There have been several incidents in our city here involving Uber drivers.....

To me if I have an occasion to hire someone....going to/from the airport for example....I use taxicabs...safer and from what I've been told not much difference in price....