Lyft, the US cab sharing application has stated that 4,158 cases of sexual attacks were reported to the company between 2017 & 2019.
In its initial security statement, Lyft also revealed the number of vehicle deaths and deadly physical attacks through the period.
Those incidences were far exceeded by the number of sexual attacks recorded over the 3 years.
”over 99% of trips occurred without any reported safety incident. Behind every number, there is a person who experienced that incident. Put simply, even one of these incidents is too many. That is what drives our relentless work to continuously improve safety for riders and drivers,” said Lyft.
Lyft, together with its biggest US competitor Uber, had promised in 2018 to deliver data on severe safety occurrences and abuse.
In 2019, Uber revealed 5,981 statements of sexual attacks affecting drivers and passengers and between 2017 and 2018.
Lyft has not released figures to date.
Impending lawsuits
Out of the incidents of sexual attacks revealed by Lyft, 360 were cases of rape.
Lyft stated that it reported 105 vehicle casualties and ten deaths affecting physical attacks between the start of 2017 and 2019 Dec.
The ride-hailing firm is facing several US trials from passengers over the claimed sexual attack and the initial trial is set to happen in 2022. Also, Uber is being accused in the US over related cases.
In its security report, Lyft stated that the information was based on when a case was communicated to the firm and not significant when the event took place.
“We recognize that sexual assault is chronically underreported, and it can sometimes be months or years before a survivor is ready to come forward and report what happened – if they choose to do so at all. Knowing this, Lyft included any incident reported in 2017, 2018 and 2019, regardless of when the incident was reported to have occurred, said Lyft.
The firm stated that 52 per cent of reports of sexual attacks were caused by passengers, and 38 per cent we caused by drivers. The rest 10 percent was made by other parties like law enforcement officials.
“Individuals who are accused of committing the types of incidents detailed in this report will be permanently removed from the Lyft community, preventing them from riding or driving in the future, Lyft said.”
