Important Steps to Follow After Ride sharing Accidents

The explosion of the ride-sharing culture has brought about many changes to the California roadways, not the least of which is what to do when you are involved in a ride-sharing accident.

Ride-sharing accident law is a little different than traditional auto accident law. This is because in nearly every case, you will be not at fault no matter what occurred. In most cases, you will be a passenger. In some cases, you may be an innocent bystander.

If you are the driver in a ride-sharing accident, you will need to contact your ride-sharing company, such as Uber or Lyft, for further details. For this reason, we will not cover that topic in this blog post. Rather, we will focus on what you need to do if you are ever involved in a ride-sharing accident as a passenger or bystander.

Follow These Steps As Soon As You Are Safe to Do So

While ride-sharing culture has brought about a massive shift in many areas of the auto industry, including auto law, there are some things that never change after you are involved in any type of roadway incident.

The first thing you want to do is remain in place until it is safe to move. You need to start by assessing your personal condition and then looking around you to be sure it is safe to get up and move about.

Once it is safe, call 911 or your local police immediately. You want to get officials on the scene as soon as you possibly can both for your protection and for documentation purposes.

This can be especially vital in case anyone involved in the incident chooses to leave the scene of the accident, which is technically now a crime scene. The police or emergency response personnel are your protection no matter what the other involved parties decide to do. They will also create an accident report with officially verified information about what occurred that is admissible in court.

Start Documenting Everything You Remember and See

Your next immediate step after contacting 911 or the police is to start documenting everything you see. If you don't have anything to write with, use your smartphone notes or a recording app.

Write down the license plate and contact information for every person involved in the incident. Be sure to ask for this information calmly and politely and as succinctly as possible - do not say anything other than what you absolutely have to say to get their information.

Write down what you remember about what happened as best you can.

Talk With Any Willing Witnesses

When you are a passenger or bystander in a ride-sharing accident, you may not be paying close attention to the driver and the roadway in the way you would have been if you were the driver.

This is where having the testimony of witnesses can be especially valuable to your personal injury attorney.

Again, calmly and politely, approach any witnesses you see and ask very nicely if you can write down, record or video their recall of what happened. Ask if you can get their contact information in case you need to reach them later.

Should You Contact Your Insurance Company?

This is where things get confusing for riders involved in a ridesharing accident. This is also why it is smart to reach out to find an experienced Lyft accident attorney near me right away after your experience.

However, you should always contact your own insurer anyway the moment you have been involved in a ride-sharing accident. Here, it doesn't matter if you were a passenger or a bystander.

What to Expect if You Were the Passenger in a Ride-sharing Accident

If you were a passenger and your driver was involved in a ride-sharing accident, the ride-sharing service will have their own corporate insurance policy that covers you. However, the level of coverage can vary from one company to the next.

For example, the ride-sharing company Uber has a $1 million policy to cover passengers.

In this situation, receiving coverage is typically a simple matter of contacting the ride-sharing service to report the incident. However, frequently it isn't quite so simple since the ride-sharing company won't want to admit fault.

This is why you should always reach out to an experienced ridesharing accident lawyer right away after being involved in this type of auto accident.

What to Expect if You Were a Bystander in a Ride-sharing Accident

Unless you have ever driven for a ride-sharing service such as Uber or Lyft before, you probably don't know that drivers have up to four designated "periods," or spans of time, during their shifts.

1. Period 1: the driver is off duty (driving but not seeking a passenger).

During this period, the driver doesn't even have the ride-sharing app activated! So if any kind of incident occurs, any available coverage will come from the driver's own personal auto insurance policy.

2. Period 2: the driver is on a shift and seeking a passenger.

If the driver has turned on the ride-sharing app and is driving around seeking a passenger fare, then the ride-sharing company covers any auto accidents to a limited degree.

What isn't covered under the company's insurance policy will revert to the driver's own insurance policy coverage.

3. Period 3: the driver is en route to pick up a passenger.

In this period, any auto accident that occurs will be covered under the ride sharing company's auto insurance policy.

However, it is important to remember that the company may not be quite so willing to automatically assume fault for the accident, even if to you it was clearly their fault.

Seeking guidance from a Lyft accident attorney near me is vital to be sure you get the coverage you deserve after being victimized in a ride-sharing accident!

4. Period 4: the driver has picked up a passenger and is en route.

For an auto accident that occurred when the driver had picked up a fare and was active en route to their passengers' destination, the full insurance coverage provided by the company then applies.

This is generally the least difficult type of coverage to obtain access to without the need to involve outside legal assistance. However, until the coverage you deserve has been provided in full, it is always smart to reach out to your West Coast Trial Lawyers legal team to prepare to take action if the need arises.

Contact West Coast Trial Lawyers for Help

Being involved in a ride-sharing accident is becoming increasingly common as more and more people use these services nationwide. In crowded, congested California cities, ride-sharing accidents are on the rise.

Navigating the still-new arena of ride-sharing law can be difficult under even ideal situations - and a ride-sharing accident is never an ideal situation. If you have been involved in a ride-sharing accident, contact the experienced legal team of West Coast Trial Lawyers for help.