Laurel Duggan
Lyft reported 1,807 sexual assaults in 2019 in its first-ever safety report, released Thursday. The release mentioned that in 2019 the company received 156 reports of rape and 114 reports of attempted rape.
The rideshare company’s release listed categories of sexual assault ranging from “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part” to “non-consensual sexual penetration.” Reports of all five categories of sexual assault included in the release increased from 2018 to 2019.
From 2017 to 2019, rape was reported in about one in 5 million Lyft rides, according to the release. There were 4,158 total reports of sexual assault in Lyft rides during those years.
“While safety incidents on our platform are incredibly rare, we realize that even one is too many,” Jennifer Brandenburger, head of Policy Development and Research at Lyft, said in a Thursday blog post. “Behind every report is a real person and real experience, and our goal is to make each Lyft ride as safe as we possibly can.”
Lyft screens all drivers before they give their first ride, runs annual background checks on drivers, and requires community safety education, the report explains. The company also supplies in-app safety features that allow passengers to share their location with others and access emergency assistance from the app.
Rachel Abrams, an attorney who represents assault victims in lawsuits against Uber and Lyft, said Lyft is “not implementing the safety measures to prevent this from happening, and it’s just going to keep mounting,” The New York Times reported.
Abrams said the company needs to incorporate video surveillance into its vehicles, according to the NYT.
Lyft did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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