Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/646059
ByJustinPritchard TheAssociatedPress LOS ANGELES The deadly shooting rampage in Ka- lamazoo, Michigan, raises anew a question that has dogged Uber and other taxi competitors: Their rides may be cheaper and more convenient than a cab, but are they as safe? It's not just whether Uber's part-time drivers are better (or worse) be- hind the wheel. It's whether passengers are more likely to be assaulted, kidnapped or raped by an Uber driver than a cabbie. The answer is that there seems to be no reliable an- swer. Police and transpor- tation authorities around the U.S. say they know of no rigorous comparison of cabbies and Uber drivers. The taxi industry, facing an existential threat from Uber, has highlighted a series of incidents as evi- dence that an Uber trip is a gamble passengers should not take. Then again, taxi drivers have assaulted cus- tomers, too. If any place might have analyzed which is safer, how about San Francisco, where Uber was launched more than five years ago and keeps its headquar- ters? Police there can't say because they don't keep crime data in a way that would answer the safety question. Local transpor- tation regulators don't know, either. Nor does San Francisco's district attorney, though his of- fice is spearheading a law- suit that alleges Uber mis- led passengers into believ- ing its driver background checks are the most com- prehensive available. "We haven't done a com- parison because that is not what the case is about," said Max Szabo, a spokes- man for San Francisco prosecutors. The debate over safety has come amid rapid growth by Uber and other app-based ride-sharing services such as Lyft, and it flared after the arrest of Uber driver Jason Dalton last weekend in the kill- ings of six people in the Kalamazoo area. Asked which is safer, Uber's own head of safety public policy did not an- swer directly. Instead, Dorothy Chou said Uber is enlisting tech- nology "to predict and pre- vent incidents from hap- pening." She pointed out that the app lets passen- gers share their location and requires feedback on drivers after every trip. Uber is starting to use its drivers' phones to track hard braking and other dangerous driving, she said, as well as whether a driver is holding a phone. "As long as we keep in- novating ... eventually it will definitely be safer to take a ride-sharing vehi- cle," Chou said. While there is no defin- itive answer to the safety question, there are some clues. Backgroundchecks This is where taxi advo- cates hit Uber hardest, say- ing that Uber's checks fail because they do not include fingerprinting of would-be drivers. Many law enforce- ment experts say a finger- print search is the most comprehensive way to check someone's background, and taxi regulators typically re- quire one. Uber counters that fin- gerprint checks are imper- fect and that its background check process — which it says includes searches of motor vehicle department files and several criminal databases going back seven years — is excellent. But Uber can no longer claim its methods are "industry- leading." Uber agreed to pay $28.5 million to settle a lawsuit (not the one filed by San Francisco) that alleged such safety claims were false. As part of the settle- ment, Uber's "safe ride fee" will become a "booking fee." Each side can point to troubling findings about the other. In their lawsuit, San Francisco prosecutors de- tailed how police there and in Los Angeles found 25 Uber drivers who had seri- ous criminal histories that were not flagged during the background check or may have been disregarded by Uber. Uber says that in 2014, at least 600 active taxi drivers who also applied to Uber in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Fran- cisco failed its background check for problems such as violent crimes. Reported incidents The national Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association has a website listing news reports of as- saults, rapes and other vio- lence against passengers or pedestrians by Uber or Lyft drivers as part of a cam- paign it calls "Who's Driv- ing You?" Though Uber has not re- plied with a website in kind, there are plenty of stories of taxi drivers committing vi- olent crimes. Anecdotes can be evi- dence; they are not proof. Data that could be used to break down on-the-job crime rates of taxi and Uber drivers may exist, but no one has done that anal- ysis, at least not publicly. Doing it rigorously would be hard. Amidafightoverwhether Uber drivers should be re- quired to submit to finger- print checks, Austin, Texas, has released some informa- tion. According to a docu- ment compiled by the city, in 2015 Uber drivers alleg- edly were involved in 13 sex- ual assaults and one rape; taxi drivers, five; and Lyft drivers, six. One sexual as- sault was listed as Uber or Lyft. But those numbers lack essential context, such as how many miles, trips or hours on the job cabbies log versus Uber drivers. With- out that information, it's impossible to tell whether a passenger is more at risk with one or the other. DEADLY SHOOTING Which is safer — Uber or a taxi? 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