Uber transportation company does not make its employees take a state- or federally regulated background check like that required of taxi drivers. A story in Canada’s The Province newspaper stated: “Uber drivers have been charged with assaults and rapes, and the firm faces a number of lawsuits.” By not safely checking drivers with fingerprints or the proper background check, there is no way of knowing if you are going to get into a car with an ex-convict. The problem that we face is can we trust the drivers to not be a threat to the community, or do we disband the company’s ability to operate entirely?
The solution that I came up with is to legislate that Uber is required to do the same background checks for all drivers, and post complete information about the driver on their app. Uber could make all their drivers take a background check and then make a profile about that driver on the app that allows people to pick and choose, based on their knowledge, who they want to drive them. Either we stop Uber’s practices now or we change their way of doing business in order to better our community.
Emily Lahti
Vancouver
