Does Driver Safety Matter?

Uber driver Scott Cabrie has been found dead, allegedly killed by a passenger.

Every day in Australia, rideshare drivers working for Uber, Ola, DiDi & others work hard to make sure the public gets to their destination efficiently and safely. 

But safety is a two-way street.

Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads is in right now conducting a “safety blitz” targeting rideshare and taxi drivers, fining rideshare drivers up to $5,750 for installing their own in-car cameras to ensure safety.

Drivers are specially licenced and their identity confirmed regularly by driver apps using built-in facial recognition software. Drivers by law are subjected to both driving history and criminal history checks.

Passengers are not screened.

There is no means for drivers to report threatening behaviour by passengers that will provide them with an immediate response or protection.

In the longer term, even false reports against drivers are addressed, whereas rideshare companies’ responses to reports of bad passenger behaviour are vague and it seems there is little or no follow through of even criminal behaviour. 

The current case, where a driver has allegedly been murdered by a 18 year old passenger is an example of the lack of care exhibited by both rideshare companies and by the Queensland government. 

Rideshare Driver Network (RDN) is not surprised that this horrendous loss of a valuable community member has occurred, only that it has not happened sooner.

RDN wishes to call to attention to this disparate industry oversight of drivers and passengers that may well have resulted in the death of our colleague.

Further information/interview: rdn@rdn.org.au