Ride-hailing service firm Uber has revealed that it received more than 3,000 reports of sexual assaults during rides in the United States in 2018. This comes at a time when ride sharing companies like Uber and its rival Lyft face increased scrutiny over the security and safety of its riders and drivers.
The statistics were shared in a wide-reaching safety report on Thursday. The report contains reported incidents of sexual assault, physical assault and vehicle fatalities during Uber rides over the last two years.
Is riding in Uber taxi safe?
Are riders and drivers safe during rides? Uber has been facing this question for quite some time now, with multiple incidents of sexual and physical assault being reported across the globe regularly.
In total, Uber received 3,045 reports of sexual and physical assault during rides in the past two years. The 84-page report also mentions that Uber received 235 reports of rape, the most heinous crimes of sexual assault in 2018. There was an average report of four incidents of rape being reported every week.
During that time, Uber said, there were an average 3.1 million trips occurring everyday in the United States. Although Uber in its report mentioned that there was a 17% decline in the rate of such reports, the figures in 2017 were 229 compared with 235 in 2018.
The most shocking part of the report reveals that 92% of the reported rapes were allegedly committed by the drivers.
Tough times ahead for ride-hailing services
Not only Uber but other ride-hailing services too have been under scrutiny with an increasing number of cases of sexual and physical assault cases being reported over the past few years.
The report comes within two weeks after the company lost its license to operate in London. Following that the company had said that it would appeal the loss of its license to ferry passengers over a "pattern of failures" over safety and security.
A number of ride-hailing services across the world have come under pressure, with repeated lawsuits being filed over driver misconduct that includes sexual and physical assault.
Uber, which has operations in 70 countries, has time and again been accused of failing to assure safety and security to its riders. However, Uber has been claiming that drivers report assault at almost the same rate as riders across the five categories of sexual misconduct and assault.
