Rideshare Law Office brings home financial support for San Francisco victims hurt in accidents involving rideshare drivers. You may have had your personal vehicle struck by a careless rideshare employee. You may have been a passenger in an Uber car or a Lyft vehicle when it was hit by another vehicle. If you were injured, contact us to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation. It’s a no-risk way to discover what your injury should be worth and how to hold a giant rideshare company responsible.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Getting into a Rideshare Accident?
If your rideshare accident only involves very minor injuries or only property damage, you may not need a lawyer to handle your case. But if you suffer a more serious injury and will need a lot of money to pay your medical bills, it’s important to remember that you may have to take on a major rideshare corporation to get help. A San Fransico rideshare accident lawyer can be a major safeguard in these complex cases.
A rideshare can rely on corporate lawyers and insurance adjusters to find ways to blame you for the accident or to downplay what a doctor says about the outlook for your injuries. Your lawyer fully investigates your accident and collects the evidence necessary to keep the rideshare from escaping responsibility. Your lawyer can also usually secure much more for your claim than you could secure by handling the case yourself.
Rideshare Accident Dangers In San Francisco
When people are out for a night on Market Street or commuting on I-280, they may not realize how many rideshare vehicles are in the lanes beside them.
With San Francisco at peak traffic levels, having to work and pay attention to a rideshare app can lead to even more collision risk than usual. An Uber driver can be distracted by a passenger, a phone, or just stress to get someone somewhere on time.
Victims may be struck by a distracted rideshare while they are taking their kids to school. A victim may be in the back seat of a Lyft ride when the driver makes a dangerous maneuver that leads to an impact.
It happens far too often. These are some of the other distractions and temptations that lead to rideshare collisions:
- Rideshare App & Phone Distractions – With most rideshares, drivers get alerts about nearby ride requests and must make decisions about whether they’ll take the gig. This can involve an audio distraction, a visual distraction, and even a reach for the phone for a swipe. A customer hits the app up from a ride, a computer calculates the closest and best driver to take the job. Drivers on the clock end up traveling quite a distance without looking up at the road.
- Reckless Travel – Passengers might be in a rush to get here or there. A Lyft employee may feel it’s necessary to speed, cut other drivers off, and drift through lanes as they look for their next turn. These actions lead to crashes.
- Cruising — Rideshare employees can spend half of their shifts or more without a passenger. They drive aimlessly in high-traffic areas, hoping to be close to the next potential rider. These hours can lull a driver into not paying attention to other cars or even traffic signals.
- Driver physical and mental state – Uber employees might get behind the wheel after a sleepless night or after an emotionally draining experience with a family member or friend. They may be exhausted from working for two rideshare companies or more. These difficult circumstances make drivers more likely to make mistakes and put someone at risk.
- Drug or Alcohol use. Rideshares don’t hire drivers who drink or use drugs before or during a shift. But it’s not always easy to spot problem drivers. Any person working a rideshare job is under stricter guidelines than most drivers. A normal person must keep their blood alcohol content (BAC) under .08% while behind the wheel, but a rideshare driver must generally stay under.04% BAC to remain legal.
These are all reasons a rideshare driver would be responsible for your accident and any injuries you received. But that’s only if you can prove that the rideshare drivers were at fault.
The rideshare industry is ruled by some of the largest and most successful companies in America. They have teams of lawyers at the ready to try to shift blame to you if you were in another car. They also save their bosses money by downplaying the injuries you suffer.
It’s a way to justify offering you far less than you’ll need to fully return your life back to normal.
A lawyer can be a critical advantage in these cases, making sure you receive what you require to rebuild your life.
These are just a few of the transportation businesses we can help you demand money from after an accident:
- Uber accidents
- Lyft accidents
- YRide accidents
- Taxi Companies
Do Rideshare Drivers Have Insurance for Accidents?
Rideshare drivers must have their own car insurance policies. Sadly, most drivers will only sign up for the bare minimum in coverage to save money. These weak policies can run out well before all of the victim’s medical bills get paid, leaving patients to cover their bills themselves.
- The rideshare company’s insurance: Bigger rideshares like Lyft and Uber do have large insurance policies in case their drivers cause collisions. However, their coverage only kicks in during certain phases of the driver’s shift. Lyft and Uber have policies that go up to one million dollars, but drivers must have had a customer at the time of the accident. This means either on the way to pick up a customer, or a customer already in the vehicle. If the Uber driver has the app open, waiting for customers, when a collision occurs, the compensation for victims may be less.
- Another Driver’s Insurance: You may have a rideshare driver who takes every precaution on the road. Yet another driver can hit your Uber and cause you to suffer major injuries. That driver’s car insurance policy would have to cover the damages.
Another critical task for your Rideshare Law Office lawyer will be to identify which parties should be providing support to you and your family while you are hurt and can’t work. Your lawyer may file claims against more than one party to give you a better chance of securing everything you need to recover physically and financially.
Compensation After a Rideshare Involved Accident
Victims in rideshare accidents should act quickly to build their cases and file claims. California sets the statute of limitations on a personal injury case at two years from the date of the accident.
Two years seems like a long time, but to give your case the best chance at a positive outcome, victims should really file as soon as they are ready. Plus, turning your case over to an attorney quickly gives your lawyer the best chance to secure fresh evidence and track down witnesses for testimony.
It’s also best to get your claim on the desks of a giant company like Uber as soon as possible. They may take their time responding to a claim or lawsuit, so the sooner you get it to them, the sooner you can hope to get the support you require.
If your case wins an award, you can hope to collect compensation for all of the bills and other hardships you’ve had to go through in the months since the accident.
Here are a few of the things that can factor into how much compensation you receive:
- Medical expenses. Money for any surgeries or rehab expected in the future.
- Wages from missed work hours. Any lost wages expected in the future.
- Costs associated with a permanent disability, such as medical equipment, physical therapy, or even training for a new career.
- Emotional anguish. Loss of enjoyment of life. A claim might earn you money towards counseling.
- Enduring extreme physical pain. Pain that might stay with you over a lifetime.
- Travel costs going to see medical specialists, in some cases, out of the area
- Damage or destruction of property.
What if I don’t have the money to pay a rideshare lawyer?
You can still count on strong legal protection from Rideshare Law Office. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for your family. Then our attorney’s fee comes out of the compensation a corporation like Uber is forced to provide.
Contact a California Uber Accident Attorney
If you or a loved one sustained a serious injury and the accident involved a rideshare driver, contact us for a free and confidential consultation. Uber accidents can be complex cases and involve many different insurance companies.
An attorney can help make sense of it all. Whether you were hit by a rideshare driver, injured as a passenger, or injured while driving for a rideshare, we can protect your rights and secure compensation for you.
