The WoW Style

As the popularity of ride-sharing has increased, so have the number of Uber and Lyft drivers. This increase has also led to a rise in the number of accidents involving Uber and Lyft drivers. If you find yourself in an accident while a passenger of one of these services, you will need a ridesharing accident lawyer to guide you through the legal ramifications.

What to Do at the Time of the Accident

Being in a car accident is bad enough. That sickening crunch of metal on metal is scary at best. If you are in the car as a passenger during a rideshare with either Uber or Lyft, you will need to do the following things after the accident.

1. If you are able, check on everyone involved in the accident and make sure that they are okay. At this time, you will want to check on your own wellbeing as well.
2. Call 911. Whether you think that you are injured or not, you will want to get emergency vehicles to the accident site as quickly as possible. Once the police arrive, ask that they make sure to get the identity of everyone involved in the accident, drivers and passengers alike.
3. Take pictures of the scene of the accident. Take as many as possible. Try and get pictures of the positions of the vehicles and any surrounding landmarks. Take pictures of the damage to both vehicles and make sure that you get a clear picture of the license plates.
4. Make sure that you get contact information for every witness you can find. If they are in a vehicle, get a picture of their license plate as well.
5. Gather contact information for all of the passengers. Take screenshots of each of their IDs. Get the same information from the driver, getting a screenshot of their drivers licenses as well.
6. Make sure that you get insurance information from the drivers involved. Make sure that the driver’s license of the driver matches the Uber or Lyft identification. If they do not match, notify the police officer on the scene immediately.
7. Once you have gathered all of the information, get to a hospital and get yourself checked out.
   Call a ridesharing accident lawyer. There are both Uber accident lawyers and Lyft accident lawyers.
8. They will be able to answer any questions you might have about your own expenses being covered.
9. Never apologize to anyone at the scene of the accident. If might be held against you in court at a later date.

Accidents Are Relatively Common

There has been an increase of fatal accidents where Uber drivers and Lyft drivers are involved. They may be distracted by their cell phones as they are worried about their next passengers. They may be distracted by the passengers. There are numerous possibilities as to their state of mind at the time of the accident.

There are over three million Uber and Lyft drivers on the road every day. This number far exceeds the number of taxi drivers at any given time. So far, those are not the only numbers that exceed taxis. There are more accidents with passengers in the car with ride share drivers than there are taxi drivers.

Uber and Lyft Liability Insurance

Uber and Lyft drivers are required to carry specific insurance for ride-share drivers. This covers their liabilities for their vehicles. If they are in an accident while you are a passenger, they will be covered by their own insurance, but what kind of protection do you as a passenger have?

Uber’s corporate insurance covers the passenger’s injuries, but they are notoriously tight-fisted and will do everything possible to push the responsibility on to the driver. You are going to need an Uber Accident Lawyer as soon as possible after the accident. First though, you need to take care of yourself. Make sure that you are not injured. Seek medical attention because these injuries sometimes do not surface for a few hours.

When it comes to Lyft, things are not much better. Their liability insurance is more specific. They will only take responsibility for the passenger’s injuries if the driver had his phone set to Drive Mode. They too will attempt to pin the accident on the driver. After you seek medical attention and ensure that you are okay, your next call needs to be to a Lyft Accident Lawyer.

What’s Next?

Since accidents are relatively common with Uber and Lyft drivers, the courts are seeing their share of cases against these companies. You need to protect yourself by having a ridesharing accident lawyer every step of the way.

While we hope that you are not badly injured, there is always a possibility that you may lose work time. You may even lose your livelihood. If this happens, Uber or Lyft truly are responsible and should be paying all of your medical bills through their insurance. Since they are known to fight paying what is owed accident victims, it is important that you allow your lawyer to be the conduit between you, the insurance companies, and Uber and Lyft themselves.

Make sure that the information gathered at the scene of the accident is well organized as you will most likely need it in court. You will also want to write a detailed statement of what happened when you get home. All of this information will be needed as evidence.

Conclusion

In many ways, Uber and Lyft can save lives. DUI numbers are actually down because people have come to trust Uber or Lyft to drive when they are intoxicated. Just like you are protecting yourself from DUI, you will need to protect yourself from being victimized in any way due to the accident.

Attorneys that specialize in car accidents are well versed in the nuances of court procedures in personal injury cases of this type. They are really the only ones who can guide you through this experience. Ridesharing has become a specialty all its own, so you need an experience Uber accident lawyer or Lyft accident lawyer to guide you.

If you find yourself in this situation, do not try to traverse the legal territory on your own. You are only hurting yourself if you fail to hire an accident lawyer early in the process. Since personal injury lawsuits are all about protecting you, you need to retain an accident lawyer to make sure that you are truly protected every step of the way.