Hi women Lyft & Uber drivers - how do you stay safe?

I live in Philly but do most of my driving in NJ from 6pm until 6am. I tend to accept the long trips 45+ min. Where I sit waiting for trips most likely will have me picking up families or business people to EWR, Philadelphia International, JFK, or La Guardia. My logic is most criminals will not be paying $60/$125 for an Uber to head to an airport but you never know:) The areas I pick up in are mostly medium to high income families. I do bar pickups on Saturday nights sometimes. I stay in college areas so most of my pickups are college kids to and from a party or night club. I know the markets I drive in fairly well so it keeps me out of bad areas. I no longer drive much in Philly. Too many bad areas and who knows where you will end up. 

There really isnt anything that can keep ou safe. I  am operating a vehicle that weighs over 4,000 pounds, in a confined space, with my back to passengers not an ideal situation to defend yourself. Your only hope is to be able to get out of yo…

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I live in Philly but do most of my driving in NJ from 6pm until 6am. I tend to accept the long trips 45+ min. Where I sit waiting for trips most likely will have me picking up families or business people to EWR, Philadelphia International, JFK, or La Guardia. My logic is most criminals will not be paying $60/$125 for an Uber to head to an airport but you never know:) The areas I pick up in are mostly medium to high income families. I do bar pickups on Saturday nights sometimes. I stay in college areas so most of my pickups are college kids to and from a party or night club. I know the markets I drive in fairly well so it keeps me out of bad areas. I no longer drive much in Philly. Too many bad areas and who knows where you will end up. 

There really isnt anything that can keep ou safe. I  am operating a vehicle that weighs over 4,000 pounds, in a confined space, with my back to passengers not an ideal situation to defend yourself. Your only hope is to be able to get out of your vehicle to use a weapon. Whatever weapon you have you better know how to use it and be prepared to use it. I do have a dashcam in my car in hopes that will help in the way people behave. 

Pull up to your rider with doors locked. Ask passenger their name and who their driver is. it's not much but gives you a few seconds to get an idea if the passenger is really drunk or is in a really bad mood. If you get a bad feeling or passenger is really drunk drive off. Always trust your gut. I also go off ratings. Depending on the time and where I am I usually dont pick anyone up lower than a 4.50. Nights that I do bar trips I dont pick up anyone with a 4.80 or lower. I dont do pool rides unless its a long trip but I shut the app down so they dont add riders. Pool is trouble waiting to happen. A driver picked up 2 pool riders. One was on drugs and killed the driver and other pool passsenger last week in MD.  My kids know if I ever share a trip with them that I am not comfortable with my passenger. Once ride is over if I dont call them within 3 min to call the police. I try to know areas where police hang out, where police stations are. Just always be aware of my surroundings. If things dont seem right start figuring out what you can do before it all goes bad. Say my prayers before I start my shift. Not much else you can do. Things can happen at anytime of the day or night. It's not a safe job and Uber & Lyft dont seem to care about the drivers safety. 

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