Delano is a tight-knit community spread across a small city, but walking anywhere can get you hot and tired out pretty quickly. That’s the reason Uber came into existence. To provide people with a reliable and affordable way to get to work, to grab some food, do some shopping, or to get to an emergency meeting in Bakersfield.
Uber provides a means of travel for a great many people, but their drivers can also be a hazard on local streets. They rarely get to focus on driving as they seek out ride requests and rush to find new addresses. Their rushing on the job can lead to a serious accident that might leave you with painful injuries.
If you are hurt as a passenger in an Uber car, hit by one of their vehicles, or if you are an Uber driver yourself and being treated unfairly by your company after an accident, it’s time to contact a rideshare accident lawyer serving Delano. Uber’s insurance adjusters and lawyers won’t be filling you in on all of your options available to you as a victim so make sure you have an attorney representing you who can.
Uber Accident Dangers in Delano
You may not have considered the driving safety of a rideshare driver, but it’s not hard to see why they could be very dangerous when they happen to be next to you.
They must process so much from behind the wheel and can face pressures most drivers don’t have to cope with while traveling.
These are just two of the common practices that can turn an Uber driver into a careless driver:
- Distracted Driving – Uber drivers can get notifications from their phones all day and sometimes every minute. It takes a glance down to see who might be signaling and where they are. Uber employees must tap a button to accept a ride request. All of these actions while driving are illegal in California for good reason. Passengers can also provide a distraction while in the car.
- Reckless Driving: The quest to not keep passengers waiting can lead to speeding on our local streets in Delano. The quest to locate a tough-to-find address can also have Uber drivers swerving slowly through the lanes, ignoring stop signs while they look for a street. Uber employees could also be driving aggressively after being verbally assaulted by a passenger. All are instances that could put an Uber driver on a collision course with you.
Earning Compensation After An Uber Accident in Delano
An accident may bring your Uber ride to an end, but your journey to find help with the costs of your injury care can be just beginning.
After filing your accident claim with the Uber driver’s car accident insurance and having it rejected (insurance companies don’t always cover accidents that happened while their policyholders were driving for a rideshare) you may then try to get compensation from Uber.
They do carry a sizeable insurance policy but whether you can draw from it is another question. Uber provides up to $100,000 in coverage to victims if an accident happened while their driver was on the clock, but didn’t have a ride request at the time.
If an accident happened while the uber employee had passengers in the car or was on the way to pick up a passenger then there’s up to a million dollars available to victims.
As you may have noticed, these policies leave a lot of circumstances uncovered. You could be left with an injury and only able to collect money from your personal car insurance policy’s uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. But there are other avenues your rideshare accident attorney can try for you that might force Uber to step up more than they usually do:
- Uber Safety and Hiring Practices – How well does Uber check into the past of a potential hire? Does Uber offer any training to its drivers?
- Uber Employee’s Record – An attorney can investigate the driver’s past to see if they have prior criminal or driving convictions. Was there something Uber missed?
- Drowsy Driver – How many hours are Uber drivers allowed to work? Was the driver way past this limit? Was the driver lacking sleep?
- Vehicle Safety – Your accident may have been caused by a malfunction on the Uber worker’s car. Uber should be responsible for the condition of the cars its employees use. A malfunction could also make the automaker liable in your accident.
Contact a Delano Uber Accident Lawyer
After an accident, you owe it to yourself to talk to an attorney with experience dealing with major corporations like Uber. Uber will have a team of lawyers working to devalue your case and your attempt to get help with medical expenses. Having your own attorney can help put a stop to their tactics and get Uber focused on providing you with the compensation you need to recover.
If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury caused by an Uber employee it’s time to contact a rideshare accident attorney protecting victims in Delano and across Kern County. We can help you.
