A taxi-hailing company has discovered 4,158 sexual assault reports
Image credit: BBC
According to Lyft, a taxi-hailing app in the United States, 4,158 incidences of sexual assault were reported to the company between 2017 and 2019.
Lyft also reported the number of motor vehicle deaths and deadly physical assaults throughout the period in its first-ever safety report. The number of sexual assaults reported during the three years substantially surpassed those incidents.
“Almost 99 percent of journeys happen without any documented safety problem,” according to Lyft. Behind every number, there is a person who experienced that occurrence. Simply put, even one of these occurrences is too many. That is what motivates our never-ending efforts to improve rider and driver safety. “
Lyft and its larger US rival, Uber, vowed in 2018 to make data on significant safety events and abuse public. Between 2017 and 2018, Uber disclosed 5,981 reports of sexual assault involving riders and drivers. Until now, Lyft has refused to publish the numbers.
Lyft acknowledged 4,158 incidents of sexual assault, 360 of which were reports of rape. Lyft reported 105 motor vehicle fatalities and 10 physical assault deaths between the beginning of 2017 and the end of 2019.
Lyft is facing a number of US lawsuits from passengers alleging sexual assault, with the first trial set for 2022. Uber is also being sued in the United States for identical allegations.
They stated in their safety report that the data was based on when an event was reported to the firm rather than when the occurrence happened.
“Knowing this, Lyft included any incident reported in 2017, 2018, or 2019, regardless of when the incident was reported.”
According to the firm, 52 percent of sexual assault reports were made by passengers, 38 percent by drivers, and the remaining 10 percent were reported to third parties such as police. Individuals accused of committing the types of offences outlined in this report will be permanently banned from the Lyft community, banning them from riding or driving in the future, according to Lyft.