Updated: 06/25/2021
Rideshare drivers tend to see an uptick in ride requests around the holiday season. More people are travelling, and thus are in an area without access to their own vehicle. While this could mean good news for your bank account, some drivers may be concerned about safety. Here are six ways for rideshare drivers to stay safe during the holidays.
1. Use a Dashcam
Dashcams are fairly inexpensive. They can be a great insurance policy for rideshare drivers to stay safe. The basic cameras can monitor either the road in front of you or the seats—both yours and the backseats, if you position the camera right. More advanced dash cams can do both, which covers you from liability if you get in an accident that isn’t your fault as well as motivating passengers do not do anything they wouldn’t want on camera.
2. Tune Up Your Car
Safety isn’t just about who is in your car and how they’re behaving. The safety of your vehicle matters, too. Make sure your car is in good working order as you head into the holidays. If you live in an area that gets a lot of ice or snowfall, be sure that your car is ready for winter, whether that means checking your tires, your defroster, or just making sure you have an ice scraper in the glove box.
3. Share Your Trip Status
Uber lets you share your trip status as a driver with a trusted friend or family member. The feature lets you turn on status sharing by going under Settings and clicking “Share My Trip.” Then, you will be able to select which contacts you would like to share your trip status with. This feature does not share any information about your passengers, but it does share your trip status, license plate, phone number and location on a live map. Your map will show that you are sharing, and will offer you a button to turn off sharing at any time.
4. Cancel a Rideshare Request
Rideshare drivers are allowed to cancel a ride if they feel unsafe in the area. However, there is a tradeoff with this. If you cancel a ride too often, the rideshare platform (Uber, Lyft, etc.) can deactivate you. There appears to be no specific percentage of cancellations that results in deactivation. However, you will probably get some kind of notification from the platform if your rate of cancellation is too high.
5. Check Rider Ratings
Your customers are likely to check and contribute to your ratings. However, you should be able to check their ratings as well. If a customer has consistently low ratings, you may want to rethink whether you accept that ride.
6. Choose Areas Wisely
Part of courier strategy is minimizing how much you have to drive. Thus, taking rides in the same general area is better for your efficiency, but it can be better for your safety as well. Especially if you are driving after dark, try to choose an area you know is safe and that you feel comfortable in.
Although the gig economy has its fair share of horror stories on the driver and passenger sides, there’s no reason you can’t make your gig economy business both safe and profitable this holiday season.
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