A Lyft accident can leave several people injured: the driver of the other car, as well as passengers, might be left with lifelong injuries and damage. If you have been injured in a Lyft accident, contact us today.
Lyft Accidents in Fresno
The roads around Fresno can turn into parking lots at certain times of the day. Morning and Evening rush hours can make travel along busy Fresno arteries like Highway 180 or Blackstone Avenue a frustrating adventure.
What’s surprising is some of the biggest contributors to local traffic aren’t drivers at all. Every time someone decides to open a rideshare app and request a Lyft car it adds another vehicle to the road. And while all these rideshare services and delivery drivers can come in handy, they also increase the chances of dangerous collisions around Fresno.
Fresno Lyft Drivers and Accident Risk
Anyone who drives their own vehicles to work or school or the grocery store may have noted the fleets of cars on local roads picking up passengers and dropping them off. All of these ride requests can prove a real distraction for employees for companies like Lyft. They work from behind the wheel, and in addition to the normal stresses of driving, must strive to find customers and keep them happy.
In the rush to snag a ride request nearby, Lyft drivers can definitely be tempted to look down at their phones or even pick them up. It’s a textbook example of distracted driving, but if you rely on an app for your job, you don’t have much choice but to pay attention to your cellphone.
This inattention to the road that comes standard for rideshare drivers is a proven threat to California Motorists. The California Highway Patrol reports that over the span of a year they saw almost 11,000 injuries in accidents involving distracted driving. At least 900 of those crashes were related to cellphone use. What’s more, those numbers would likely be much higher if more motorists admitted to what they were doing just before they caused a collision.
Distraction On Fresno Roads for Rideshare Drivers
The statistics clearly tie distracted driving into accidents with real consequences. You may not even know you’re traveling alongside Lyft workers until they get distracted by a notification, look down, and they are suddenly veering into your lane. A collision may be unavoidable and you could wind up with major injuries.
Due to their job description, Rideshare employees can quickly turn into the most inattentive drivers on the highway. They deal with all of the classic distractions facing drivers when they’re behind the wheel.
To better understand the problem, Law enforcement officials worked on a list of the three main categories of distraction for drivers.
- Visual Distractions – Eyes off the road. At any moment the driver, and especially a rideshare worker, can glance at a phone or a radio dial. Lyft workers can instinctively look down every time they hear a ding from their phones
- Manual Distractions – Hands off the wheel. Adjusting a seat, eating, assisting a passenger, or actually holding a phone.
- Cognitive Distractions – Mind off the road. We can all daydream or be turning over problems at home or at work in our minds. Lyft drivers can have more reason to be stressed by customers all while behind the wheel.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Lyft provide insurance to cover my injuries?
Yes and No.
If you are in an accident caused by a Lyft driver, the question of liability will become a tricky factor when trying to get help paying for the expenses from your injuries.
An accident claim will first go to the driver’s personal insurance policy. That claim could be denied. At that point, Lyft provides up to one million dollars in liability coverage for their drivers and victims, but only in specific circumstances. The driver must have accepted a ride request, is on the way to pick-up a passenger, or has the passenger in the vehicle at the time of the crash for this coverage to be in effect. If a driver is logged into the Lyft app but doesn’t have a ride request yet, Lyft provides a smaller amount of coverage for accident victims.
Are there ways to hold Lyft accountable even if they deny coverage?
Yes.
They should be held accountable for any accidents caused by their business practices and there are ways to hold Lyft responsible. For example, an attorney working for you can investigate the Lyft employee’s driving record to show past negligence that should have kept them from getting hired by Lyft. Lyft’s background checks and safety training can be called into question. If a problem with the driver’s vehicle caused the accident, that blame can be focused on Lyft for not ensuring their employees are driving safe cars.
Do I need an attorney after an accident caused by a rideshare driver?
You aren’t required to have an attorney, but generally, an attorney can help you receive a higher compensation amount than wrestling with Lyft’s lawyers alone.
An attorney can be vital to winning compensation, especially when a case involves multiple insurance companies and a national company like Lyft. A local attorney can protect you from becoming a victim a second time when Lyft’s team of lawyers begin to discredit your case. They will try to contact you to get a statement about what happened in the accident. They are hoping to get you to say something that will weaken your case. Better to let an attorney fighting for your rights handle all communication with the opposition.
