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The woman just jumped out of the car, ride-share driver says
By adamg on Tue, 10/01/2019 - 9:07am
WBZ interviews the driver of the car out of which a woman jumped in the middle of the O'Neill Tunnel yesterday morning, during a ride from Logan to Mattapan.
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Comments
I feel bad for the driver
She went out of her way to help a distraught person who proceeded to do a traumatic thing. Plus, now the driver, who seems to really need to work, is blocked from driving for Uber/Lyft. No good deed goes unpunished....
Fret not
She'll get a better job, and they won't get a better driver.
This wasn't an Uber/Lyft ride
Deleted
She's a great driver
I've hailed her on Lyft at least twice.
Is there a gofundme or something for her? This really isn't fair.
Start one also for the woman...
.. who was hit, while you’re at it.
My sympathy is entirely with
My sympathy is entirely with the driver.
Your sympathy is not a finite resource
Having compassion for the passenger, who was obviously mentally or spiritually damaged in some way we don't understand, does not in any way reduce the compassion available for the driver. It's possible to have compassion for the passenger despite the misery that her misbehavior has caused for the driver and for the driver of the car that hit her.
No.
No sympathy for the rider - yes for her being distraught, not for her traumatizing and involving and potentially causing harm to a lot of other people. This was a very selfish act. Accidents in those tunnels are fatal. One car swerves to avoid her, hits another car, going 45 mph or more in that tunnel at rush hour, you have a multi-car accident with potentially fatal injuries. She could have killed other people with her actions and she got extremely lucky that no one else was injured. And what about the person that did run her over? Imagine what they are going through, now they have to carry that burden for the rest of their life. If you make a suicide attempt, do it in private and don't involve strangers. Actions like hers have repercussions and cause collateral damage. Same for the people who jump in front of trains, forcing the conductors to experience that trauma.
You could do that
If you wish. Except that we know the name of the driver, but not that of the unfortunate woman who jumped out.
I always like to be helpful.
Unfortunately, our litigious society has made it very difficult to be helpful, especially when you have things to lose.
I’m “traumatized” every day...
... by Uber and Lyft drivers right hooking me, running red lights, idling in bike lanes and honking incessantly.
My sympathies lie with the victim who is too injured to defend her actions in news videos.
Do you believe...
... that, proportionate to their numbers on the road, Uber/Lyft drivers exhibit these behaviors more often than, less often than, or about as often as, other drivers on the road?
Yes, absolutly
Ride share drivers care about their phone first and their passenger second. That's where the money is. Regulations and other road users are a distraction at best.
If Trump
If Trump offered a comprehensive law to some how ban or limit ride shares I would re-elect the man. They're are menace and we should be focused on fixing the MBTA (the original ride share).
Did you ever take taxis?
Rideshares are an improvement.
You can actually report them to their rideshare company and get results, unlike reporting cab drivers who try to kill you to the nearest protectective black hole.
Then there is the whole not having to deal with the cab drivers improvement.
At this point, I'd just be
At this point, I'd just be impressed if he produces a comprehensive anything!
I’d be impressed
if he could pronounce comprehensive.
That is an absolute
That is an absolute generalization based on anecdotal evidence. When I'm driving riders I am extremely aware of the liability and responsibility I am taking on. I am not trying to get into accidents or drive dangerously. And I know that if there's an accident, a rider is injured, and I get sued by another driver, Uber/Lyft do not have my back because I'm an independent contractor. There's no workmans comp for my injuries either. Riders also have the freedom to report drivers for unsafe driving. Sorry you've gotten cut off by a couple of rideshare drivers, but I see MORE dangerous driving from regular drivers all the time who either don't know where they are going or want to drag race down Mass Ave. They can do that because they don't have the responsibility of a stranger's safety and well-being in their hands. When I drive home after Uber driving late at night I have reported at least three drunk drivers every weekend. You don't realize how many people are driving drunk out there and putting your life at risk until you drive late nights for work.
More often.
I have less trouble with regular drivers and taxi drivers.
It this a facetious question?
It this a facetious question?
yes yes yes
infinity YES. Most of these rideshare drivers do not live in the city or anywhere close to it. When it rains/snows, or the T breaks down forget it, they flood in from every forgotten suburb to snatch up rides during surge pricing. They don't know where they are going or how to get there, they rely on google maps which in Boston... LOL.
We all used to bitch about how bad/agressive cab drivers were, then Uber/Lyft came along and went "hold my beer."
Its more obvious than a frying pan to the face, they are a scourge.
Something I would support
Require all of them to have a Massachusetts commercial license to drive here.
Then a special test/curriculum could be created that reviewed such important things as how to drop people off without blocking bike lanes and crosswalks, etc.
It might also stem the tide of ME/RI/NH license vehicles driving like morons in the city - talking about you Ms. Run The Red To Make A Right at South Station (and get surrounded by people that she nearly hit in the crosswalks pounding on her car and screaming).
Lyft Drivers no longer
Lyft Drivers no longer Receive surge pricing even though it still charges the pax a surge and Uber’s Surges aren’t really worth anyone flooding any areas. Most drivers will tell you the same.
Still means
More/ guaranteed business. Call it what you will, it’s noticeable to anyone with eyes.
Lay off the driver.
Maybe you should try being a rideshare driver and see how well you do, instead of judging this driver's actions. From what we know, she did nothing wrong - the rider intentionally jumped out, in a tunnel, in what was probably heavy traffic. Don't judge a rideshare driver unless you've had to do this job yourself, day in and day out. She's not doing it for kicks - she's doing it to support herself.
“Helping someone” can also
“Helping someone” can also mean “I get a bigger cut if I leave the company out of this”
Is it fun always going negative?
Kind of sucks for us.
So she turned off the app and
A Logan taxi taking a passenger the wrong way? That’s never happened before. I’ve heard of 93 south to 95 north to get to Woburn - route corrected once the passenger threatened to call the police.
No way to know how altruistic the driver was as the terrified witness can’t testify to the route or what she may have paid the driver. Sounds terrible all around.
So much wrong there
But let's just leave it that this wasn't a taxi.
Location, location
Given the location of the incident, she was definitely going the right way.
The woman was clearly disoriented.
All suggested routes pass the incident location
Nope. None of the suggested
Nope. None of the suggested routes you show pass the location of the accident.
According to the original article Adam linked, they were in the O'Neill Tunnel, headed south, near Exit 23.
It's not an unreasonable route. If Ted Williams is backed up or construction or something, get across the harbor via the Sumner Tunnel and turn somewhere to get on 93 SB.
It also might be an explanation for the jump. If the passenger was disoriented or not paying attention, they might have become distressed at the thought of going into the second tunnel -
"It also might be an
"It also might be an explanation for the jump. If the passenger was disoriented or not paying attention, they might have become distressed at the thought of going into the second tunnel - "
There is no reason to jump out of a moving vehicle in the tunnel at rush hour. Or any other hour. None.
Objectively, calmly,
Objectively, calmly, rationally... - you would in most cases be correct.
However - a person could be ill, paranoid, delusional, exhausted, fearful, running from something, impaired, disoriented, PTSD, etc... To a person in any of those circumstance, in the very subjective moment (as opposed to an "objective" outsider (like us) that doesn't live in their shoes) it might seem to be imperative.
You need a geography lesson
All the suggested routes go by I-93 at the location of the accident.
You need to learn to read a map.
Actually, all three of the
Actually, all three of the suggested routes on the linked map go via the Ted Williams Tunnel to 93 South near South Station (not passing where the accident was), then split off from the Expressway at different points to cut over towards Mattapan. That's how it was when I replied to Swirly in the morning and that's what it shows now when I'm replying to you now.
I don't know why Swirly linked information that changes with traffic conditions. You can ask her.
As Danny and DTP recognized, with the specified destination and the specified location of the incident, the driver most likely crossed the harbor via the Sumner Tunnel and then entered 93 SB.
...and I learned to read maps when I was five, thanks.
Do you really need to bash everything?
I've had good and bad Lyft/Uber drivers in about the same proportions as cab drivers. There's no reason to hate on this woman when you have no idea how her driving is nor what she was going to charge the woman. Some of my drivers have been lovely and helpful, especially while I was on crutches. The main thing we know about this one is that someone here has posted that they've ridden with her and had good experiences.
How do you think she was supposed to stop the woman from leaving her car? It would have been illegal and menacing to use the child locks before she'd shown any sign of being a danger to herself. Of course the poor driver is traumatized, as I expect the driver who hit her also is.
People see rideshare drivers
People see rideshare drivers as the new fast food worker. They assume most are foreigners or just lowlifes who don’t want real jobs when that couldn’t be further from the truth. My driver last week was a professor at MIT. I mean come on. The general public will act as though the drivers are a nuisance and bother to the city but they’ll make use of the service and request pick ups and drop offs in areas they know are not safe or legal at times. But it’s all about them in that moment and nobody else. Most ride share drivers I encounter are polite, friendly and provide me with a safe ride to and from my destination.
I suspect this has a lot to
I suspect this has a lot to do with a lot of rideshare drivers (and cab drivers) being people of color. I drove for Uber and Lyft full time three summers in a row because my phD fellowship only paid me for the fall and spring semesters, and the class I was supposed to adjunct teach got cancelled. I am certain that as a white woman I got treated better than other rideshare drivers have. It's easier to overlook and dehumanize a driver when you already see them as discardable and invisible in society. I got a lot of "why are you doing THIS?" from people with a lot of subtext to it. Not everyone can be seemlessly upwardly mobile with a job that comfortably pays the cost of living all the time, especially in this city, where rent is always rising and pay does not rise to meet that level. I think a lot of rideshare drivers get seen as f**k-ups who can't do anything else, rather than as regular people just trying to get by in the world.
I (a white man) get a lot of
I (a white man) get a lot of the same reactions from people who strike up a conversation, especially after they find out I'm an engineer. Inevitably they always end up asking why on earth I'm doing THIS? As if I should be "above" rideshare driving. I do it for fun and a little extra cash some evenings and weekends, but most people just don't understand. A lot seem to think that everyone working a service industry job is a lower class of people who have somehow failed in life.
While this driver seems to
While this driver seems to have had good intentions, anyone knows, especially a person who drives for a living, that you don't let some random person into your car just because they walk up and open your door, no matter what type of emergency they are claiming. It is dangerous plain and simple.This driver is lucky that the person did not hurt her as well.
She was trying to be a good
She was trying to be a good person and help out a desperate woman. I'm a rideshare driver and I've done favors like that for desperate people before. I've had to drive people who injured themselves to the hospital because the ambulance couldn't come fast enough, and I cancelled the trip and didn't charge them and drove them for free, cuz I didn't feel right charging for it. She thought she was doing a nice thing for a person because she's a good person. IT'S NOT HER FAULT.
She is supposed to be a
She is supposed to be a professional ride share driver. Turning off your app and accepting an off the books fare is not being nice, it is breaking the rules. Similar to how out of town taxis couldn't pick up fares off the streets within city limits unless they were called, she was not supposed to be pulling up at the airport and letting random people into her car. Driving someone to a hospital if they legitimately used the app to summon the ride is not the same. The person could have hurt multiple other people or even taken the driver hostage with no way to track her since its a random stranger in the car and no app tracing them. There are reasons for rules and the driver should have been following them, not being "nice" (which I have a hard time believing it wasnt more so about a fare that didnt need to be shared with uber/lyft). I hope everyone involved recovers physically and mentally.
In the moment, sometimes you
In the moment, sometimes you have to make a quick decision. If you're always thinking that the person getting into your car could potentially hurt you, you won't last long as a rideshare driver. You have to be friendly, compassionate and trusting. Drivers have plenty of safeguards to ensure they aren't victimized - a cell phone with GPS at the ready, the Uber system tracking our whereabouts, and all sorts of info about the rider, including their credit card -as do riders. You'd have to be a true idiot to try and hurt a driver during your ride. That's why I won't drive a rider anywhere unless they have explicitly put that destination in the app first. That this woman would bail out of the car as a suicide gesture is the LAST thing any driver expects. It's the last thing I would expect or predict. This is just an unfortunately rare freak occurrence. If I see an upset woman having a bad day, maybe she's new to the city, maybe she lost her phone, I will probably give her the benefit of the doubt because she's a vulnerable woman and as a woman myself I know what that's like. SImilarly, if someone tells me they need to get to the MGH ER right away because they cut their hand in a restaurant kitchen and they have a towel wrapped around it, I'm not going to ask them to show me their injury first.
Speaking of which - I became well aware as soon as I started rideshare driving how much more vulnerable cab drivers are with no safeguards in place to track their whereabouts, and to being robbed as they carry cash. Cab drivers are among the most mistreated of workers. I gained a new respect for them after seeing the kinds of safety issues that I was protected from that they aren't.
Sumner to I-93 South?
Is it legal to turn hard left from the Sumner tunnel exit to I-93S? I believe there are no left turn signs - although most GPS apps will tell you to do so. Could the passenger and driver have gotten into an argument about that??
It is legal except during the
It is legal except during the evening peak period: https://goo.gl/maps/HbVoNbjBdd1XTS478
It shouldn't be legal at all, IMHO.
also, keep in mind
Rideshare drivers don't have a lot of leverage or clout within the Uber/Lyft system. Riders have much more power. We're a dime a dozen, can be easily kicked out of the system, and we have no recourse because we aren't technically employees. There are no protections out there for drivers. Furthermore, we can be yelled at and mistreated by riders and it's their word against ours. Guess who wins that one.
I've had my car thrown up in and the most I could get from Uber and the rider for cleanup was $15 dollars. That was after submitting many photos of the damage. Thank goodness that has improved.somewhat. But still, I take on the liability - Uber and Lyft don't. That leaves you in a very vulnerable position such as this woman is in. They won't let her drive now until the "investigation" of this incident is over. I suspect she will be kicked off the system for giving this woman a ride off the app. There goes her source of income thanks to this rider's callous selfish actions.