Recent stories about ride share drivers has me wondering when do the passengers take responsibility for what is going on or should they.

The latest story is about a 30 yr. old woman who requested an Uber, in the early morning hours, to take her from Uptown to Logan Square in Chicago.  If you know the city, Uptown is close to Lake Michigan and north of Wrigley Field.  Her destination was Logan Square which is west and a little south of Wrigley Field.

As you can see from the map, there is no easy way or quick way from Uptown to Logan Square.  To drive this route, there are many stoplights, stop signs and plenty of traffic on the streets.  The ride took around 20 minutes to get from pick-up to destination.

As I read the article, it said that this young lady was sitting in the back seat and the driver reached back and started to touch her on her legs.  She recorded some of the action, however, at no point in the video does she record the driver(Not that it matters).

A few questions came to mind.

Why didn’t she get out of the car?

Why didn’t she fight back?

Why didn’t she move over and behind him?

I asked my girlfriend what she would do if she found herself in this situation and this is what she said:

“I’d kick the s#*t out of him and get the hell out of the car!”

I then asked her if she would record the event with her phone and she said,

“Ain’t nobody got time for that.  I’ll beat the crap out of him.”

I know that no two women are the same just like no two men are the same.  As a man, I am sickened by the actions of this driver.  As an Uber/Lyft driver, I use these stories as justification for a camera in my car to keep my passengers and myself safe.

Here are my personal thoughts on the questions.

#1.  Why didn’t she get out of the car?

The early morning hours, in Chicago, are dark and kinda gloomy.  The sun is not up, not many people walking the streets and if you don’t know the neighborhood you are riding through, it can be intimidating.  For me as a man, I probably would say to her, “Get the hell out of the car girl!”

There is a possibility that the rear doors had the child safety lock on but the article didn’t mention that at all.  The article didn’t say if she had other belongings in this drivers car or the trunk and she didn’t want to leave her things in this driver’s vehicle.

I also wonder if she was afraid that this driver may have had a weapon and didn’t want to find out.  I can’t blame her for that but she knew where one hand was and saw the other hand on the steering wheel.  Maybe she could have grabbed his arm and fight, which is my next question.

#2. Why didn’t she fight back?

I don’t know how big this woman is, but generally speaking, most men are bigger and stronger than the average woman.  If she thought that he would overpower her, she may have felt like there was nothing she could do.  Maybe she could have fought him enough to crash the car, but that would be too hollywood and too dangerous to other drivers and people on the street and herself.  She could have moved behind him and gouge out the driver’s eyes.  Many options but what would you do?  I’m a man, and if a man tried that on me, no hesitation, he’d be in trouble.  If a woman did that to me, I don’t know, my girlfriend would want to kill me if I let her.  (Just a little humor)

And that brings me to my last question.

Why didn’t she just move over to behind him?

I think that she could have moved behind the driver which would have made it harder for the driver to touch her.  She’d be able to kick the seat and make the driver very uncomfortable and she’d be able to keep him under control.  The only thing that I can think of with moving goes back to how big was this driver?  She obviously was afraid of this man to keep on sitting there with this driver’s hands touching her.

So I kind of understand her recording the incident for proof to authorities and to Uber.

Now there is the darker side of this which is she may have been a party to this and for some reason, she decided to report the driver and sue Uber.  If  she started the ride flirting with the driver and the driver didn’t do what she wanted him to do to her and then decided that she can get something out of this.  That would be evil but it is a possibility.

I’ve had riders on Friday and Saturday nights that ask some very interesting questions.  I had one girl ask me, what she had to do so that I would give her 5 stars.  She was riding with her friends and they were very vocal about the things she could do.  I told her, “There is nothing you can do.  I give all my riders 5 stars.  You have to be really bad for me not to give you 5 stars.”   I’ll let you use your imagination as to what was offered.  This is one of the many reasons I have cameras in my car.

My female readers, if you find yourself in this situation, consider all of your options.  If you can safely and quickly get out of the car, then get out and run!  Yell “FIRE”  a million times while you are running.  People will come out of their houses if you yell “Fire!”  If you can’t get out safely, call 911 immediately and start telling them where you are.

Just an extra tip:

When you request your UBER or LYFT, the app shows you a picture with name and license plate and a description of the vehicle.   Take a screen shot immediately before you get in the car.  If something happens, the information may disappear from the app but you will have the info in your photos!

Anyone that blames her without considering all these things should start looking at the situation through her eyes.

There is no excuse for what this driver did and I’m glad he no longer drives for Uber.  Please don’t let one idiot scare you away from using Uber/LYFT.

Please critique this blog and thank you for reading.