The report on Thursday showed that Uber Technologies received over 3000 reports on sexual assault related to its 1.3 billion rides in the US in 2018.
Although Peter DeFazio, a representative from the Democrat party commended Uber for releasing such disturbing figures, he said that Uber and other companies must go the extra mile to establish formal policies to guide staff members, conduct more trainings to keep them in check and have more reporting structures.
“As a country, we must ensure safety is a priority, and make it clear that sexual assault and harassment will not be tolerated anywhere, no matter where it occurs,” he said.
Uber Technologies, however, said the reports it disclosed did not include risks for drivers as riders accounted for roughly half of the accused. It said the report which could supposedly stir an uproar showed its commitment to transparency to improve accountability and safety. It said further that it would take lessons from this scandal to do better in other places.
DeFazio introduced legislature in November to help track and curb similar incidents from occurring in different modes of transportation, including ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft. The committee approved; the innovation now awaits action by the entire US house.
Prior to this move, Uber and Lyft in October, had failed to appear before DeFazio’s committee at a hearing relating to the sexual scandals. “Their failure to appear at this hearing is a telling sign that they would rather suffer a public lashing than answer questions on the record about their operations,” DeFazio said at the October hearing.
A more pressing incident was with the drivers accused of sexual misconduct. DeFazio said at the hearing that he was keen on knowing what the moves the companies took to deactivate dangerous drivers to protect the public. “They don’t share data on the prevalence of assaults on their platforms,” DeFazio said at the hearing.
Lyft said it would release its own safety report on unsafe drivers but did not say when.
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