Your normal day may take you on a trip around Tracy, or anywhere within the “triangle” formed by Interstates 5, 205, and 580. That trip may involve the hailing of an Uber driver or it may involve traveling alongside those busy rideshare employees. Either way, that trip can end up being dangerous for you and anyone with you because Uber drivers can be quite distracted while at the wheel, and suddenly become unsafe drivers.
You could be a passenger in an Uber vehicle or in another car, on a motorcycle or bike, or a pedestrian when an Uber driver causes an accident. Think twice before trusting that driver’s insurance or Uber to provide support during your injury recovery. Reaching out to a Tracy Rideshare Accident Lawyer may be the only way to get enough compensation to cover your medical bills and other hardships. Contact us today for a free assessment of what happened to you and for guidance on what to do next.
Uber Accident Dangers in Tracy
Drivers head out early and stay out late in San Joaquin County. They can be heading straight for work, commuting to Stockton, on the way to class, or out to find a late-night snack on Grant Line Road.
Plenty of people make these trips with their Uber apps, but each of those trips adds another driver to the traffic around Tracy. And some of those rideshare drivers are tired, distracted, and perhaps not in the best mood after dealing with cranky passengers all day.
Uber drivers don’t go a mile without their cellphones. It’s the tool that makes their jobs possible. Unfortunately, a glance at a screen with each ride request that comes in can mean a scary moment in the lanes.
Distracted driving leads to frightening crashes every day in California and those are just the cases where drivers admitted they were distracted when they caused an accident. In a 2019 survey, California’s Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) found that more than half of the state’s drivers they talked to admitted to making a driving mistake while using a cell phone. It’s a danger factor that only increases when your job duties include using a cellphone behind the wheel.
Uber Insurance Coverage in Tracy Collisions
Victims that are hurt in a crash caused by an Uber employee may need financial support right away as they learn just how long they’ll be in the hospital or how many months of physical therapy they’ll need. They may also have to miss weeks of work just as they have all of these bills coming due. Yet, compensation can still be a long way off, especially as you start to be sent in different directions to get insurance help.
Here are the three main avenues for victims to find insurance compensation:
- The Uber Employee’s Personal Insurance: Uber requires all employees to maintain their own auto insurance. So, after an accident, your claim will first be sent to the Uber driver’s provider. Unfortunately, the chance of success for this claim is pretty low. The reason being that insurance companies don’t always extend coverage when their drivers are working for a rideshare or delivery company. They may toss out your claim for damages or they may have limits on what you can earn and it can end up not being enough to cover all of your injury care. In these cases, you can try to hold Uber liable.
- Uber’s Insurance: Uber provides a decent amount of insurance coverage to their drivers and their victims, but it’s not available in every accident. Uber will cover an accident if it happens while their driver has a passenger in the car or is on the way to pick up a rider. If this is the case, they’ll provide up to a million dollars in liability insurance. If the accident happens while drivers are logged in on the Uber app, but they don’t have any ride requests at the time, Uber’s coverage drops down to $100,000 total. When the Uber driver is off the clock but driving around, Uber generally won’t accept any liability.
- Your Uninsured Driver Coverage: If all else fails you may have to file a claim against the uninsured motorist portion of your own insurance coverage. This can lead to problems for the victim. Just because you are dealing with your own insurance agent doesn’t mean they will do everything that’s in your best interest. They will still try to limit how much compensation you get for your hospital bills and lost time at work. A rideshare accident attorney working on your case can help convince your insurance firm to make a fair offer that covers every bit of your medical care and the time you lost at work.
Contact an Uber Car Accident Lawyer in Tracy
After an accident caused by one of their drivers, Uber representatives will be calling you. They will sound nice, but don’t fall for that. They’d like to get a statement from you about your accident and the injury. These statements should all come from medical experts or crash investigators. Anything you say can give Uber an opportunity to use your words against you.
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 Tracy. We have experience taking on national corporations and forcing them to accept liability when their employees cause innocent people to get hurt.
