Does social ridesharing service Uber present a danger to Danbury residents? That is the question being asked now as the city considers enacting new insurance requirements for those who would use their personal vehicles to transport strangers from point A to point B for a fee.
Uber is a social media application which allows users to solicit a ride over the Internet. Drivers who have registered with Uber can then respond to the request, and go pick up the user and drive them wherever they want to go. The payment is handled automatically through credit card, and no cash ever changes hands. If this sounds like a taxicab service to you, you’re not alone. Uber has been banned in certain cities of the U.S. because it does not require its drivers to adhere to the strict requirements that most cities demands of taxi drivers and taxi cab companies.
As Uber moves into Fairfield and New Haven counties, lawmakers have all but given up on the thought of banning the service or causing its drivers to register as taxi drivers. Instead, the General Assembly is expected to vote before the end of the current session to require drivers who charge for a ride and are dispatched by a centralized system, to carry not only personal liability coverage, but also livery insurance.
Those in violation of the proposed law would be fined up to $500 the first time, and up to $2000 for a subsequent offense. Also, the legislation, if passed, will clear the way for the Department of Transportation to ask the state Superior Court for an injunction which will stop ride sharing services from operating in the state.
Lawmakers are worried that, should something go wrong, passengers in a ride sharing vehicle will not have the same legal recourses that they would have in a similar situation involving a taxicab. For example, should a passenger in a car driven by an Uber driver be involved in an accident, it is unclear what kind of legal recourse is the passenger would have.
Uber currently operates in approximately 70 to 100 cities around the world in his backed by investment heavyweights such as Google and Goldman Sachs.
Danbury accident attorneys – Hastings, Cohan & Walsh, LLP – 58 Post Road Danbury, CT 06810 (888) 244-5480
