#lyft/uber women driver safety safety sign up to drive lyft/uber

[lyftuberwomendrivers-blog]

Rideshare exploded on the scene roughly a decade ago. The concept was a brilliant marriage between technology, and transportation. Millions were now able to hail a ride within minutes, just from the tap of a button. No more grumpy cab drivers, or having to wait long pickup times based on your zip code (i.e. region discrimination). Rideshare work began attracting those in need of supplemental income, entrepreneurs, retirees, and creative types who enjoyed the freedom and flexibility gig work provides. It also attracted women drivers, who are only %14 of all Uber drivers according to Forbes.  

What types of violent incidents are reported by female drivers, and at what frequency? How does rideshare driver safety, fare in relation to other occupations for women? Well, unfortunately both companies have avoided sharing any specific information at this time. There are no comprehensive reports, figures, or studies done on rideshare driver related incidents involving violence. We can only speculate these companies purposely omit this data in order to protect their reputation and therefore bottom line. Both companies have recently filed their much anticipated IPO’s.  

Comparisons

Taxi workplace violence statistics do remain open to the public fortunately. An article by OnLabor (a workers rights advocacy group) states: “the homicide rate for cab drivers is about 30 times higher than the national homicide average for all workers.” While that statistic is very troubling, rideshare drivers can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Glaring distinctions exist between taxi and ridehare drivers. The most significant being; rideshare drivers deal with cashless transactions, this alone decreases the likelihood of being targeted for cash robberies, a huge motivation for violence against taxi drivers.  

Another distinction is: rideshare vehicles are not hailed in a random fashion like taxi cabs. While yes, both are paired with strangers, rideshare fares are hailed specifically via an app, linked to a credit card holder. This ensures more accountability, along with the fact passengers are always under a GPS tracking service (rider/driver at all times). The exception being when the account holder orders a ride for someone else. Passengers do not have to provide their real names and a picture at this time. A petition to require this along with other safety enhancements is trending right now with close to 6k signiatures.

Reality

It also cannot be ignored that as women we are more susceptible to becoming victims of sexual assault. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center “91% of victims of rape and sexual assault are female, and nine percent are male.” Women driving late nights, are often dealing with intoxicated male passengers, placing them in a precarious position. Alcohol consumption increases this risk (for sexual assault), according to a study done by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; “approximately one-half of all sexual assaults are committed by men who have been drinking alcohol.” Many women drivers are mothers who can only work night hours due to childcare, work, or other commitments. Driving nights is attractive for the better weekly bonuses, traffic conditions and overall earnings.  

Preparation

When you sign on to become a driver, you are prompted to watch a 20 minute Uber training video. It covers basic functions of the app, polices, procedures and briefly mentions for drivers to call 911 if ever in danger. There is a feature on Uber, and free apps like Life 360, allowing both drivers and passengers to share their trip/location with a loved one. One popular way drivers find guidance on navigating safety concerns is through Youtube, and other social media sites. Groups like Lyft/Uber Women Drivers on Facebook has over 11,000 members. Women share their experiences, safety tips, strategies and tools, as well as find support. A frequent question posted is; “what do you ladies carry for safety?” Or “how do you deal with men who hit on you?” 

Anecdotal “evidence” via Facebook groups, news stories, or online forums (Reddit, Twitter, YouTube etc.) can help you decide whether or not being a female rideshare driver is a safe. Consider the area you drive, hours of the day or night you’ll drive, and how prepared you are in the event of an attack. Do you own a dash cam, a safety plan, or plan on carrying a mace or a stun gun? Have you practiced using them?

Safety Hacks

Surveillance: Buy a dashcam! By having a dashcam, women are sending a clear message, that they are professionals, who will not tolerate any type of misconduct during a trip. Just like a thief is deterred from stealing a package from a home with surveillance, passengers are less likely to cross boundaries after seeing a blinking camera light. Dash cams are a simple safety tool, and far too many drivers, prioritize frugality, over their safety. Whenever someone shares an unpleasant encounter, they almost always mention they wish they had it on camera. Shop around, even if you end up getting something for $19.99, it is better than nothing. The most popular and recommended by rideshare drivers for safety and surveillance is Vantrue’s N2 Pro. It is a reliable, quality, dual camera. Equipped with infrared sony night vision, 1080×1920p HD loop recording, clear audio, parking mode, 256 GB of SD storage capacity (33 hours of HD recording), G-sensor and more!

Protection: Many women also carry a stun gun or mace. Getting the right kind is essential, and these are very affordable and easy to conceal. You never want to broadcast that you carry these with a passenger. While Uber allows non lethal weapons, Lyft on the other hand, does not, and you can be deactivated. Be sure to check your local state laws as well. Ultimately, do whatever you need in order to protect yourself. For mace, be sure to get a gel or foam type (v.s. the spray) that will not have the “blowback effect”, seeing as you’re in a confined space. You want to hurt the assailant, not yourself! For stun guns, there are effective flashlight combos that blend in with your cars accessories, making it easy to access in case of an emergency. Check with a tax consultant about these items being written off as operating expenses.

Preparation: Staying safe boils down to how prepared you are. Fight, flight and freeze are common responses to fearful or threatening situations. As our primal senses increase, the ability to react effectively decreases. It’s common to hear: “I wish I would have listened to my gut.” Avoid regret by remembering, if you ever, feel uncomfortable or threatened, anytime prior, during or near the end of a trip, you are allowed to end it. How? Practice keeping all your doors locked, look at your passenger before they get in. For example, don’t feel bad for declining a drunk passenger. Always trust your gut. If it feels wrong, leave. Simply hit cancel trip, and move on to the next fare. You will not be penalized on either platform for declining a trip, or passenger that makes you feel uncomfortable.

To end a trip in progress  Do. Not. Announce. It. See: Taco Bell Driver Assault video for a good illustration of why. Whenever your ending a ride in progress, make you calmly make your way to the nearest populated, safe location. Never argue with a passenger, since you are in a vulnerable position to be attacked from behind or the side, while focused on driving. You do not need to agitate or argue with someone while your defenses are down. Once you’ve pulled over, turn off the car. Grab your keys, cellphone mace/stun gun and exit the vehicle. If the passenger refuses to exit your vehicle, call the 911. Afterwards be sure  to report the incident to the critical response team. Save any dash cam footage.    

Conclusion

Is it safe for women to drive Lyft/Uber ? Yes. If women practice the safety tactics in place, they can have a very enjoyable experience driving for Lyft or Uber. Your chances are going to vary, but will likely be pleasant and enriching. Most people are happy to have a quick, inexpensive ride. 

If you’re a woman and are currently on the fence about signing up, it’s wise to be concerned about safety, however you can’t allow fear to prevent you from experiencing an opportunity that allows for flexibility, freedom, and great earning potential. Remain vigilant and knowledgeable about ways to stay safe and join a local rideshare group for tips as well as the national women’s support group.

   Lyft Sign on Bonus.                 ��                                    Uber sign on bonus.

[coopdigitalnewsletter]

17 August 2020: People hate shipping fees. Drone insurance: the AI is a pilot.

Hello, this is the Co-op Digital newsletter - it looks at what's happening in the internet/digital world and how it's relevant to the Co-op, to retail businesses, and most importantly to people, communities and society. Thank you for reading - send ideas and feedback to @rod on Twitter. Please tell a friend about it!

[Image: Sib]

People hate shipping fees

Why do the very big online stores offer free shipping? Because shoppers hate paying for it.

“People don't just hate paying for shipping, they hate it to literally an irrational degree. We know this because our first attempt to address [at Amazon] this was to show, in the shopping cart and checkout process, that even after paying shipping, customers were saving money over driving to their local bookstore to buy a book because, at the time, most Amazon customers did not have to pay sales tax. That wasn't even factoring in the cost of getting to the store, the depreciation costs on the car, and the value of their time. People didn't care about this rational math.”

💥 Why this matters: Amazon’s willingness to try many experiments and risk failures led to better outcomes.

“In a 2018 survey by Internet Retailer, shipping charges were cited as the most common reason shoppers abandon their carts, topping the pet-peeve list for nearly a third of respondents, ahead of things like not wanting to create an account and being unsure of the store’s return policy.”

Expectation, simplicity, uncertainty, perception of value all play a part in why people dislike paying for shipping (some reading: here, here, here, here). But it seems to boil down to this: shoppers feel like they’re being asked to pay a second time (for the shipping) to get a product they’re already paying for (the shopping). Partly, we’ve been trained to think like that because dotcom startups in the late 1990s tried it out. Later Amazon perfected it, by moving the shipping cost to a single annual fee - Prime - which you only signed up for after you were already buying loads of books and DVDs from them.

Society has worked hard to make things efficient and to hide all of the complexities away. You don’t need to know where that cheap t-shirt was made or how it got to you. Obviously shipping isn’t actually free, but when something is practically invisible, perhaps that reinforces the feeling that it *should* be free.

(And there are some obvious problems with free shipping: swallowing that cost if you’re a retailer is difficult if your industry already runs on tight margins. And it’s harder for smaller retailers to offer free shipping, because the economics of shipping mean that retailers with volume will pay less to ship each package.)

However maybe people are happier to pay delivery fees if that delivery is *immediate*. It’s clearer to see the value: you buy it and it comes to you now. Related, some Co-op news: 

Co-op hits major milestone with 400 stores on Deliveroo.

Drone insurance: the AI is a pilot

“The companies explained that what makes the work with Flock particularly unique is that the company’s AI technology has been classified as a pilot. This means as the edge-computer gains more in-flight experience and learns how to increase safety standards, the cost of insuring the system will reduce.”

Will the insurer measure improvement in learning from recorded flight/driving outcomes? Or will it inspect the AI’s data and code?

💥 Why this matters: You could also see this model working in self-driving cars, and the insurance contract moving from the driver to the vehicle manufacturer.

Uber and working conditions in the gig economy

Uber and Lyft were told by a California court to treat drivers as employees, which would give employee protections to drivers. But Uber is very sad about this and says drivers want flexibility alongside their protections, and proposes “benefits funds” for drivers instead.

💥 Why this matters: Better working conditions and contractual protections are A Good Thing. It’s gradually getting harder for Big Tech companies to claim they’re mere information intermediaries.

Elsewhere, Just Eat will switch from gig economy workers to employees. “We want to be certain they do have benefits, that we do pay taxes on those workers."

Climate change: food and energy security

A tornado flattened a *lot* of Iowa’s corn, which means a lot of America’s corn. Extreme and unpredictable weather is increasingly affecting food security. (And safety, eg wild fires in California.) Extreme heat is profoundly unequal.

BP shows oil majors how to green a polluting company - this actually sounds like a big step in the right direction. The really big step would be an oilco entirely divesting itself of carbon-intensive businesses, as Ørsted (Denmark) did. On the other hand, Chevron is installing solar panels - to produce oil more cheaply - sigh.

Numbers from a survey of 2,000 UK adults:

Effects of the pandemic: 81% say sustainability and the environment is now more important to them, and 72% say their local community is now more important to them

people are willing to pay 12% more for sustainable goods and services if it helps the planet

The sustainable.dev - “resources that enable you to craft a greener, more sustainable web”.

Retail responding

Debenhams will cut another 2,500 jobs, and hires a liquidator just in case. 

Amazon may take over old JCPenney and Sears department stores to try and speed up deliveries - they’ll be repurposed as local fulfillment centres.

Quoted

“After a lot of conversations, we decided to go ahead with Prime Day. Life has to go on. Sellers have to get back on their feet.” - Akshay Sahi, head of Prime at Amazon India.

“The majority of all US tests are completely garbage, wasted.” - Bill Gates being interestingly spiky in an interview on Covid.

“Britain, I was told, has found a way to be simultaneously overcentralized and weak at its center” - a US take on Britain’s response to the virus.

“in some ways, long-lived personal data is even worse than nuclear waste. While the data itself may live, the context which makes the data understandable and useful decays much more quickly because it likely [citation needed] has not been collected” - Dan Hon. 

“Our bots generate around 5,000 data points 1,000 times per second - that’s a GB of data per bot, per day, or a total of 4 terabytes daily for a swarm within one highly automated warehouse” - Ocado.

Co-op Digital news and events

Co-op hits major milestone with 400 stores on Deliveroo:

“Deliveroo customers can now order from 400 Co-op stores serving towns and cities with a combined population of 27 million people across the UK [...] The average delivery is 1.7km away from the store”

Asynchronous meetings - by Co-op Digital’s Iain Mitchell. How to save time and cognitive load by replacing endless video meetings with “asynchronous meetings” in Slack or Microsoft Teams.

Other free of charge events: 

Andy’s Man Club – Gentleman's Peer to Peer Mental Health Meet Up – Mondays 7pm 

Pamela Ball – Women and the Future of Work – 19 Aug – 8pm 

Generation Code – Raising Aspirations & Improving Opportunities for Young Women in Tech – 20 Aug – 12pm  

Meteoric Meters – Acoustic & Spoken Word Open Mic Night – 20 Aug – 6pm 

PyData Data Panel - Webinar – 24 Aug – 6.30pm 

LGBTQIA – Hackathon – 28-30 Aug  

Paid for events:

Invisible Cities - Online Tours of Manchester or Edinburgh – Various Dates & Times 

Mandala Yoga – Online Yoga Sessions - Various Dates & Times 

Tech Ethics – Meet Up – Various Dates & Times

More detail on Federation House’s events. You can also see how The Federation is planning for a safe return to the co-working floor.

Thank you for reading

Thank you, beloved readers and contributors. Please continue to send ideas, questions, corrections, improvements, etc to @rod on Twitter. If you have enjoyed reading, please tell a friend! If you want to find out more about Co-op Digital, follow us @CoopDigital on Twitter and read the Co-op Digital Blog. Previous newsletters.

[newsrichtv]

New Cali Laws

State laws Californians can look

forward to starting January 1st:

AB 1884: Plastic straws

Plastic straws are going the way of plastic bags. Dine-in restaurants in the state will be prohibited from giving out single-use plastic straws unless they are requested by a customer. Businesses that don't comply will be fined $25 a day and up to $300 a year.

SB 1192: Children's meals

Restaurants with children's meals can no longer offer sugary drinks, such as juice and soda, as the primary choice in their menus. The default option will be milk, water or flavored water with no added sweeteners. Kids can still order sugary drinks if wanted.

SB 946: Street food vendors

Street vendors will have more freedom to sell food. Cities and counties will not be able to ban sidewalk vendors but they can set up a licensing system to regulate them. Vendors who violate local laws can only be punished with a fine or citation, and cannot face criminal charge

SB 1164: Craft distillers

Craft distillers will be able to operate more like wineries. Starting in 2019, small-batch craft distilleries can sell whiskey, vodka and other spirits directly to customers. Right now, consumers must first take a tour or sign up for a tasting to buy alcohol.

SB 1138: Vegetarian meals

There will be more meal options for people in hospitals. Healthcare facilities will now have to offer plant-based meals to patients. Prisons will also be included in the new meal requirement.

AB 626: Home food businesses

Anyone who can cook can start a business under this new law. It allows people to sell food they make in their home kitchens to the public. They can also prepare dinners in their homes for paying guests. The home kitchens must undergo food safety inspections. The food must be sold directly to consumers, and cannot be part of a delivery service.

Minimum Wage:

The state minimum wage gets another boost to $11 an hour for people working at companies with 25 or fewer employees, and to $12 an hour for those working at companies with 26 or more employees.

AB 1976: Breast milk

Employers must provide an area other than a bathroom for new mothers to express breast milk. The area must be private and within close proximity to the employee's work space.

SB 1252: Work personnel file

Employees wanting a look at their employment records will be able to do more than just see them at their human resources office. They will be able to request a personal copy of their employment file.

SB 826: Women on board of directors

Publicly-traded companies are being put on notice. They must have at least one woman in their board of directors by the end of 2019 and two or more women in their board of directors by 2021.

AB 2274: Divorce and pets

Judges will be able to decide who gets custody of a family pet during a divorce. The judge will consider factors like who takes care or feeds the pet.

AB 485: Pet stores

Pet stores will be prohibited from selling live animals like dogs, cats or rabbits that come from breeders. The animals must be obtained from an animal shelter and the store must post the name of the agency where it got the animal.

AB 2989: Electric scooters

Adults 18 or older will be allowed to ride electric scooters without a helmet. The new law also increases the speed limit for scooters from 25 to 35 mph. It would still be illegal to ride a motorized scooter on a sidewalk.

AB 3077: Helmet use by minors

On the flip side, minors under 18 who are caught riding a bicycle, scooter, skateboard or skates without a helmet will get a citation. Violators can take a safety course to clear the ticket, and show they have a helmet within 120 days of the citation to avoid paying a fine.

AB 1755: Bicycling crashes

Bicyclists could face felony hit-and-run charges if they leave the scene of an accident where someone was injured or died.

SB 1014: Ride-hailing vehicles

Your Uber ride will have to be a cleaner one. Ride-hailing companies will have to meet higher emission standards. Companies like Uber and Lyft will have to increase the number of zero-emission vehicles on its platform and do more to encourage passengers to pool their rides.

AB 2886: Ride-hailing drivers

Ride-hailing apps will be required to provide passengers with the driver's name, picture, image of the vehicle and license plate number.

AB 516: License plates

Auto dealers will now be required to place a temporary license plate on newly purchased vehicles. It is estimated the state loses out on collecting $19 million a year on tolls from recently purchased vehicles that don't have a license plate.

SB 1046: DUI offenders

Repeat and first-time DUI offenders will be required to install an ignition interlock device to prevent a person who has been drinking alcohol from driving a vehicle. The device must be installed for 12 to 48 months to restore driving privileges, but the driver will no longer face restrictions to where they can drive.

AB 2685: Habitual truants

Juvenile court judges will no longer have the ability to suspend the driver's license of a minor who is a habitual truant.

HOV lane decals

Green and white decals that allow low-emission vehicles to use HOV lanes will expire. Vehicles issued green or white decals after January 1, 2017 must apply for a red decal. The DMV will issue purple decals in 2019

AB 2504: Police officer LGBTQ training

Police officers and dispatchers must undergo special training to better understand the LGBTQ community. The training will teach officers the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, and how to create an inclusive work environment in police departments.

SB 1421: Police officer records

The veil is being lifted from police officer records. This new law allows inspection of an officer's record during investigations of police shootings, use of force, sexual misconduct, dishonesty or misconduct by an officer.

SB 1391: Teens in prison

Teens under 16 will no longer go to adult prisons. They would be incarcerated in juvenile facilities even if they commit a serious offense.

AB 2020: Cannabis events

California is loosening its rules on where people can smoke cannabis. Festivals, museums, nightclubs and other venues will be able to host special events where people can purchase and consume cannabis. Currently, only county fairgrounds are allowed to host these special events.

AB 2215: Pets & Cannabis

Veterinarians will be allowed to discuss the use of cannabis with their clients, but vets will not be allowed to administer cannabis to animals.

SB 179: Gender of driver's license

A person applying for a driver's license or an identification card can choose a gender category of male, female or non-binary. Anyone wishing to change their gender can make an appointment after January 2, 2019.

SB 822: Net neutrality

Internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T cannot block, slow down or charge to use these websites. The new law guarantees equal access to streaming services and websites that require higher bandwidths and prohibits ISPs from exempting their own services from data caps. This is all great for consumers, but it is on hold for now. California has agreed not to enforce the law until a lawsuit challenging the FCC's decision to reverse Obama era net neutrality rules is resolved in federal court.

SB 100: Green energy

Under this new law, public utilities must implement a plan to incorporate renewable energy resources. The goal is to generate 60 percent of the state's electricity from sources like wind and solar by 2030, and 100 percent from climate-friendly resources by 2045. (SB 100)

AB 1775 & SB 834: Offshore oil production

This is California's pushback on the Trump administration's decision to lift a ban on new oil drilling off the coast. The law prohibits the California State Lands Commission from approving or renewing leases for the construction of pipelines and docks that could be used to increase the production of oil and natural gas in federal waters.

AB 1974: High school diplomas

Public schools can't withhold high school diplomas for students with past-due bus fares, overdue library books or unpaid uniforms.

AB 3922: Deported students

Retroactively grants high school diplomas to seniors who have been deported.