An Uber driver has been charged over the death of a passenger in Sydney this year The 30-year-old passenger was hit by a bus and killed in Elizabeth Street in the early hours of Saturday, June 17.
Police allege the man got out of the car at a set of traffic lights near Bathurst Street and then fell into the path of a bus when the car accelerated away. The driver had been working for 21 hours without a substantial break at the time, police said.
RSDU has constantly been calling on Uber to impose a maximum 12 hours shift limits, since our inception. See our letters addressed to Uber’s general manager dated 21/4/2017 and 9/6/2017 . We went into four strikes calling for these very issues to be immediately addressed by Uber.
‘Unlimited hours’ driving shifts were wrong, dangerous and this is the the result of such rampant negligence. Uber knew about this problem all along but choose to turn a blind eye. Unsustainable base rates are the source of the problem, pushing many drivers to drive very long shifts just so they can make ends meet. We’ve been warning about this all along, and now a passenger is dead.
These very issues were part of our submission to the FWO and we’ve sent letters to Uber management on numerous occasions. 12 hours shift limits was always one of our core demands. We highlighted the issue in the media many times during this year. Our last strike was nationwide.
We are now calling on Uber to take full responsibility for this incident and to ensure that the driver is fully represented in court. Uber has the duty of care, being fully aware of many drivers doing very long shifts all along. Uber never did anything to address the issue, operating in Australia for more than 4 years. Until finally being forced to do so only recently.
It is the RSDU position that this recent incident has ‘Uber negligence’ written all over it.
Click here for more information regrading this incident:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ridesharing-driver-charged-after-passenger-killed-by-a-bus-in-sydney-cbd-20171204-gzypzx.html
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