Every day, millions of people rely on Lyft to get them to work, to meet up with friends, to get home after a night out. Our aspiration is for Lyft to be the safest way for each and every one of them to get around.
Today we’re publishing Lyft’s second Safety Transparency Report. This report details certain safety incidents reported on the Lyft platform from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2022. It presents the data, outlines the steps we’ve taken to detect and prevent incidents, and shares more about the investments and partnerships we’ve made to stay ahead of emerging safety challenges.
What’s in the report
This report covers the most serious safety incidents reported to Lyft.
The safety incidents detailed here are statistically very rare, occurring in only 0.0002% of rides. Well over 99.999% of rides are completed without reports of these incidents.
Behind every one of these reports is a real person. Even one incident is too many, and we will continue investing in technology, policies, and partnerships to try to prevent and detect unsafe situations.
How Lyft helps keeps riders and drivers safe
Every year, we work hard to help make the platform safer by implementing new safety features. Since 2020, we’ve built many new safety features — including location sharing, Emergency Help with ADT, updates to Smart Trip Check-In, Rides for Others, Lyft Family, and more — to help keep our community safe.
Our safety work is centered around three main priorities:
Build a trusted community: We work to keep good actors on the platform and bad actors out. Preparations for a safe ride start long before a ride happens, through background checks for drivers, community safety guidelines, and visibility on who you’re riding with.
Foster safe interactions and help to manage unsafe situations: Lyft has invested in tools to detect and prevent safety incidents, and built tools for riders and drivers to engage external help. These include live safety support, Emergency Help with ADT, Smart Trip Check-In, location sharing, and dashcam registration.
Provide best-in-class support if things go wrong: Our reporting tools are straightforward and accessible, and our policies aim to be fair and consistent. Lyft provides specialized support through our Safety team of credentialed victim advocates, participates in the Industry Sharing Safety Program, and has redesigned our in-app safety toolkit for visibility, clarity, and accessibility.
Lyft’s Safety Advisory Council
We believe that Lyft can be a part of a broader solution to problems of violence, sexual assault, and dangerous roads. This is a team effort, and we were excited to recently welcome three new members to our Safety Advisory Council: Jonathan Adkins, Chief Executive Officer of the Governors Highway Safety Association; Jacob Smith, Executive Director of the National Organization for Youth Safety; and Mirella Beltram, Associate Director, Polaris. Lyft’s Safety Advisory Council was created in 2020, and has grown to 13 partner organizations that provide us with expert advice on safety initiatives, features, processes, and educational tutorials.
How to get help or report an incident
Safety team members are always standing by, ready to help via phone or chat.
Riders and drivers have many options to report an incident or request emergency help in the Lyft app. Lyft’s Safety team reviews every report, and almost all safety-related chats or phone calls are answered within 60 seconds.
During a ride, a rider or driver in an unsafe situation can call or discreetly text ADT Emergency Help from within the Lyft app. Trained ADT specialists can then help de-escalate a situation, or dispatch emergency services and provide details like GPS location and other relevant information.
Members of Lyft’s Safety team are available through either the in-app call or chat feature, and can help report a safety incident, advise on next steps, or escalate cases to specialized teams. If a rider or driver wishes to report an incident to law enforcement, one of our Safety team members will walk them through how Lyft cooperates with law enforcement.
We want Lyft to be the safest way to get around
Our teams are hard at work on industry-leading features designed to help keep our communities safe — we’re excited to announce and release these new safety features and policies as they become available. And in the spirit of transparency and accountability, we will continue to release our safety data on a regular cadence.
View Lyft’s Safety Transparency Report here.