Is it true that there will be more Uber accidents in Bakersfield, CA and its surrounding communities now that the company is placing many more of its drivers in the area? Even after the findings that were reported in Market Watch last year, which themselves were based on the research of Houston’s Rice University and Booth School of Business in Chicago, Uber as a company disagreed that there has been a three-percent increase in deadly accidents because of them and/or ride-sharing companies like them.

The fight to keep their safety records a secret is all too well-known about Uber. Although since 2013 the company has been required to submit annual reports, the information that the public really wants to know (which includes their detailed traffic data and many safety issue allegations) is still hidden. This is because, although the California Public Utilities Commission makes it a requirement that Uber directly hands in this information to them every year, there is a confidentiality clause in the commission’s regulations that restrict them from releasing the reports to the citizens of Bakersfield, as well as to residents anywhere else in California.

So, what if all the bad news about Uber is true, and you or someone you know ends up hurt in an Uber accident in or around Bakersfield, CA that was clearly the fault of one of the company’s drivers? How you will be compensated for your injuries afterward depends on what the driver was doing while he or she was logged in to the Uber app. For example, if the driver was logged in and driving, but hadn’t actually accepted a ride at the time of the accident, Uber pays up to $50,000 for each person who is hurt. If the driver is on the way to pick someone up, or is in the process of dropping someone off, then up to $1 million in damages could be available to the injured parties.

As long as negligence can be proven on the driver’s part, then Uber’s coverage is what pays damages. But, what if there is no driver of the car at all? There was one accident in 2018 where this happened with one of the company’s self-driving cars that weren’t programmed to recognized pedestrians on the highway. According to the L.A. Times, the car was in autonomous mode, and Uber stopped using the robot vehicles in public streets immediately following the incident. The family of the 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg (who reports say maybe the first person to ever be killed in an accident involving a robot car) received a settlement from Uber. But, similar to much of the company’s safety and detailed traffic information, the sum of how much they were compensated for her sudden death was not released to the public.

The experienced attorneys at B&D Law Group are here to make sure you receive the maximum recovery after your Uber or Lyft accident in Bakersfield, CA. Call us today at (888)-977-2238 for your free consultation.