Tunnels, Tips and Toll Roads: Personal Safety Tips for Busy Rideshare Drivers
We are all being encouraged to share the space in our own car or ride with someone else, in order to not just save money but also to help reduce emissions and improve the environment.
Ridesharing is a great idea and if you can grab a ride in a comfortable car like the Chrysler 300 for example, it has its attractions as well as offering convenience. Although personal safety is not often a concern for the majority of passengers and drivers too, it does make sense to at least have some basic safety awareness, especially if you are a busy rideshare driver.
Get yourself a dual dashcam
Dashcams are rapidly turning into the eyes and ears of insurance providers and even law enforcement agencies, as they are able to record anything from a traffic accident to a roadside altercation.
You would obviously want to avoid any such incident, but dual dashcams are proving extremely popular with professional drivers and anyone taking passengers under a ridesharing scheme.
Some of the models can appear quite expensive at first sight, but when you think that they give you coverage inside and outside the vehicle, and provide a great visual deterrent, you might consider that getting yourself a dual dashcam would be a smart move. Rear View Safety offers a variety of dual lens dash cameras including The LK-7950 Lukas Dual Lens Dash Camera With WiFi and GPS, The DR650S-2CH Blackvue 2 Channel 32GB Dash Camera, and The RVS-View-I Dual Lens Dash Camera For Interior and Exterior Recording.
Properly insured
The ridesharing industry has rapidly expanded in recent times, which is good news in many respects, but it does appear that some insurers and drivers have really struggled to keep up with the pace.
The result of this scenario is that it could well be that you are one of a percentage of rideshare drivers who simply don’t have enough auto insurance coverage to give them the protection they need.
It should be remembered that rideshare insurance is continually evolving and can definitely be a bit confusing in terms of what insurance cover you really have and at what times. It seems for instance, that rideshare drivers are only fully protected when waiting for a call if their policy specifically covers this aspect of the service in their terms.
Check that your auto insurance has kept pace with ridesharing activities.
Old-school safety tips that work
Ridesharing might be the modern alternative to a taxi service, but there are certainly a few basic old-school safety tips that rideshare drives could take on board from taxi drivers, who have been ferrying around people for years.
Simple safety procedures like turning off the car and removing the keys before letting someone out of the car and only accepting rides where you can check that person’s rating or have their details, so you know as best you can, who is sitting in the back.
It is also worth noting that many taxi drivers have updated their own safety measures to include dashboard cams, so you might want to make your ridesharing exploits as safe and enjoyable as possible, by mixing some old school safety measures with modern technology, and fitting a dashcam.
Ridesharing is a great concept and understandably popular, so make it a safe way to put your car to good use.
Source: Chrysler 300
Scott Hart is a mechanic by trade but to earn extra cash for his growing family has signed up to be a rideshare driver. He enjoys sharing his experiences in his articles, and hopes to help other drivers too.
