Is Uber Safer Than Taxis?

December 27, 2024 | J.L. King, II

With over 150 million monthly active users and 9.4 billion rides delivered in 2023, Uber has transformed from what was once a Silicon Valley experiment into a global transportation infrastructure. Be that as it may, there’s a question that many people continue to ask: Is Uber safer than traditional taxis?

The Impact of Uber

As an average user, it can be easy to simply see Uber as nothing more than a successful ridesharing app, much like Lyft, its most well-known contemporary. But the company’s work goes far beyond that.

Every ride generates data; you know who your driver is, and they know who you are. Both of you rate each other, and every trip is GPS-tracked. Uber, from its humble beginnings, created an information layer that changes the process (and safety) of getting a ride on a fundamental level.

Are There Fewer Traffic Incidents With Uber? A Look At The Numbers

Is Uber (or Lyft) safer than a traditional taxi? According to a systematic review of ride-hailing studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the relationship between ridesharing and traffic safety shows mixed results. While some studies found decreases in cab accidents, others found increases or even no clear correlation at all.

Uber’s latest safety report covering 2021-2022 shows 2,717 incidents of serious sexual assault, a 44% decrease from their first report (2017-2018). During the same period, Uber reported 153 motor vehicle fatalities and 36 deaths from physical assaults.

Despite the implications, those figures only represent about 0.0002% of all trips, meaning an overwhelming 99.9998% of rides end without any serious safety incidents. On top of that, Uber’s fatality rate of 0.87 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled remains lower than the national average of 1.35.

However, as researchers from the American Journal of Epidemiology note, comparing these numbers to traditional taxi services is challenging. While Uber’s digital platform provides detailed incident tracking, most cities track taxi complaints through different systems and methods, making direct safety comparisons difficult.

A different study by the University of Chicago shows about a 3% increase in overall traffic accidents and fatalities in cities after rideshare services entered those markets. Impacts varied significantly based on factors like city size, population density, and availability of public transit.

Factors Affecting Rideshare Safety

Uber and other ridesharing companies benefit from certain systems that make them inherently safer, such as:

Vehicle requirements and maintenance: Traditional taxis and yellow cabs undergo company-managed maintenance as fleet vehicles. Uber instead requires drivers to use newer vehicles (under 10 or 15 years old in most markets) with modern safety features, but it leaves maintenance to individual drivers.
Insurance coverage: Uber provides up to $1 million in liability coverage during rides, with adjustable coverage based on driver status (waiting, en route, or carrying passengers). Traditional taxis carry standard commercial policies with set coverage limits.
Safety monitoring systems: While taxis pioneered in-vehicle cameras, rideshare platforms have expanded monitoring through GPS tracking, emergency buttons, trip sharing, and AI-powered safety checks, thereby creating multiple layers of safety oversight.
Driver screening: Taxi drivers face municipal licensing requirements, while rideshare companies make use of continuous background checks that can flag new issues in real-time. Both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses, and the two are gradually adopting best practices from each other.
Market incentives: Competition between traditional taxi and rideshare services (The Yellow Cab Cab Company vs. Uber, for instance) and within rideshare companies (“Who is better, Uber or Lyft?”) has pushed all parties to enhance their safety features and protocols.

While rideshare companies like Uber have implemented various safety features that differentiate them from traditional taxis, there are still significant factors, such as vehicle maintenance, driver screening, and insurance coverage, that can impact the overall safety of rideshare services.

Taxis vs. Uber: Which Is Better?

With everything in mind, is Uber safe? For now, the data suggests that the technological infrastructure of ridesharing provides meaningful safety advantages over traditional taxi services. But despite better systems, accidents still happen.

The key difference is in what happens next. With traditional taxis, determining liability often means dealing with small local companies with limited insurance. The rideshare model centralizes responsibility and typically provides more substantial coverage for legitimate personal injury claims.

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