Our Wichita Uber accident lawyers concentrate their law firm practice in motor vehicle accidents involving rideshare vehicles that are in motor vehicle crashes. Our law firm team includes lawyers, paralegal-legal assistants and case managers who work together on your case. Our Uber injury accident attorneys give each client their cell phone so you can reach them anytime that you need help or just need to talk.

When a rideshare injury accident happens, you need the experienced legal advice from one of our Wichita rideshare accident lawyers. We have multiple offices conveniently located in Wichita and Garden City. Our rideshare injury attorneys have settled millions of dollars for our clients in car accidents since 1983 and we have had great results. Write to us on our contact page or call us in Wichita at 316-684-4400 and in Garden City at 620-843-2855.

The Kansas Network Transportation Services Act defines a rideshare company to be a transportation network company where the company's digital transportation network connects a driver to provide a prearranged ride in the driver's personal vehicle between points chosen by the rider which means the rider gives the transportation network company a place of departure and arrival. K.S.A. 8-2702(g). Uber and Lyft are transportation network companies under this definition.

The Kansas legislature's law establishes automobile insurance company requirements for vehicle drivers and owners. It requires them to carry primary auto insurance coverage of at least $50,000 for death and bodily injury per person and $100,000 per incident, and $25,000 for property damage.

Uber carries additional limits of insurance for accidents that its drivers cause. It also carries uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. The amount on file with Kansas is one million dollars of a combined single limit. This means that if an Uber driver causes a motor vehicle accident and other people in a different vehicle are injured there is up to one million dollars of coverage for all of them. If you are passenger in an Uber vehicle and the other driver has no insurance, then it will provide one million dollars of uninsured motorist insurance coverage for your injuries. If the other driver has $50,000.00 of liability insurance coverage it will provide $950,000.00 of underinsured motorist coverage.

Like Uber, Lyft has filed its insurance amounts required to be carried by drivers and its insurance coverage for the State of Kansas. Lyft also has a one-million-dollar policy of a combined single limit of insurance which will provide the same types of coverage to other drivers, injured persons and its own passengers.

These higher limits of insurance for both Uber and Lyft mean that someone injured in Wichita or anywhere in the State of Kansas that is in a motor vehicle accident with an Uber or Lyft driver will have a much higher insurance coverage amount to pursue for bodily injuries like broken bones, spinal cord injuries, paralysis, wrongful death and for paying for lost income and medical bills.

The top eight common causes of Uber and Lyft driver accidents are:

1. Driver inattention and fault. Inattention and distraction of Uber and Lyft drivers is a leading cause of rideshare accidents. Texting on cell phones or looking down at maps on cell phones causes a significant number of car wrecks.
2. Failing to properly train Uber and Lyft drivers on safe driving techniques. Unlike many safer transportation companies, Uber and Lyft intentionally avoid training Uber and Lyft drivers in safety orientation classrooms. This poor driver training leads to Uber Drivers having serious accidents.
3. Negligent supervision of Uber and Lyft drivers. Supervision of Uber and Lyft drivers is nonexistent. Safe companies use tools to track drivers on speed and driving habits with GPS tracking and on-board monitoring systems. The lack of supervision causes a massive number of annual car accidents by Uber and Lyft drivers in Wichita and across Kansas.
4. Uber and Lyft fail to create driver safety plans to prevent accidents. Safe transportation companies create safety plans for drivers to learn defensive driving techniques and then test them over knowledge. Uber and Lyft do not use proper safety plans to protect passengers and other drivers.
5. On-time delivery causes Uber and Lyft drivers to speed and cause accidents. On-time delivery for passenger departure and arrival creates fatigued Uber and Lyft drivers and thousands of car accidents a year. When the Uber or Lyft driver is late to pick up a customer, they get warnings from the companies and threaten to suspend or terminate them making them drive unsafely.
6. Failing to investigate Uber and Lyft accidents. When accidents happen, they should be investigated to prevent future similar accidents. Uber and Lyft should improve their post-accident investigations to help prevent further injuries and deaths.
7. Speeding Uber and Lyft drivers. For an Uber or Lyft driver to make more money they must driver faster and further in order to increase daily and weekly pay. Uber and Lyft should put speed limiting devices on their drivers' motor vehicles like governors that major trucking companies use to prevent their fleet drivers from speeding.
8. Drunk Driving Uber and Lyft Drivers. Like any transportation industry, some drivers will drive with passengers while intoxicated on alcohol or illegal drugs like speed to stay away and driver longer. Uber and Lyft should randomly test their drivers every so many months to reduce drunk driving and drugged driving which causes motor vehicle collisions.

Uber and Lyft are the biggest human transportations companies in Wichita, across Kansas, and the entire nation. Their use of apps propelled them to the top of the ridesharing industry.

The CDC reported that between January of 2017 and December of 2018 that ridesharing companies including taxis and other transportation companies like Uber and Lyft had a total of 83,753 motor vehicle crashes. This resulted in 421 fatalities. During that time frame these companies and all ridesharing companies had 372,957,845 rideshare trips.

The people who drive for Uber and Lyft are not employees of these companies. Instead, they're independent contractors, kind of like their own bosses. This lets them choose when they want to work, making their schedules super flexible. They use their own cars to drive customers around, just like if you were getting a ride from a friend. This causes significant layers of protection to Uber and Lyft trying to avoid liability for the fault of their drivers.

When you need experienced advice from a lawyer following a motor vehicle accident you should call our Uber and Lyft injury lawyers at Bull Attorneys.