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Comment by alialkhatib | Hacker News Reader

I don't think this remark is appropriate, especially given that an UberX driver killed a 6-year-old about 2 and a half years ago, but mostly because Uber and Lyft have been around for only around 5 years at this point.

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5 years with that number of drivers is a ton of data.

That's true, but it's dwarfed by the amount of data representing traditional cabs. If we're not just selecting for cases involving deaths, a string of cases implicating Uber drivers in violence against passengers[0,1,2] suggests - if nothing else - that the notion that Uber/Lyft drivers are qualitatively safer than taxis is false. And in the last case, it's clear that shortcomings in a system (namely, the thoroughness of background checks Uber runs) might have prevented such a turn of events.

0: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/UberX-Driver-Accused-of...

1: http://laist.com/2015/04/10/uber_driver_attack_van_nuys.php

2: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhuet/2014/06/03/uber-driver...

3 cases of "uber"-violence does nothing to suggest "that the notion that Uber/Lyft drivers are qualitatively safer than taxis is false" without data from the dangers of riding normal cabs to compare it to.

That's true. I think I just got annoyed at the emotional appeal of the Nash death and overreached. Sorry.

The second was an attack by passengers against an Uber driver. What you can find multiple taxi drivers convicted of rape and kidnap just from the past couple of years.

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