Toronto City Council approved a motion Thursday that would see vehicles-for-hire take greater accountability to help customers and police in emergencies.
The motion, brought forth by Coun. Mike Colle came in the wake of a mother’s terrifying experience when an Uber left with her 5-year-old daughter still in the back seat.
Julia Viscomi recounted her ordeal Thursday at City Hall, looking for answers she says she can’t get from Uber.
Viscomi explained that after a recent flat tire, her family of six took an Uber to their home in North York on March 10.
“It was discussed that my partner would remove the other three kids …while I would go open the garage door with my remote opener because he had accidentally left his keys inside his house,” she said. “Then the idea was that once I had completed that, he would have finished unloading the rest of the kids, and I would then retrieve my daughter. But as soon as I went back to the vehicle, [the driver] had taken off.”
Viscomi said she went through the whole spectrum of emotions upon realizing what had just happened.
“Initially, it was shock, then it was panic, and then it was terror, anger, frustration, dread.”
In a statement to CityNews, Uber said, “We recognize how distressing this situation was for the family involved. …We immediately began reviewing the details of this incident internally.”
Uber says it followed its internal protocols. Police did locate the driver, and the little girl was safely reunited with her mother.
On Thursday, Coun. Mike Colle brought forward a motion to make Uber explain itself.
The motion, which was approved by the rest of council, would require licensees to take greater accountability to directly assist customers and law enforcement in emergency situations.
The City of Toronto’s current regulatory framework for the Vehicle-For-Hire industry does not provide any remedy to passengers in such an emergency situation, nor any penalty to negligent operators. The City of Toronto must review its current rules and recommend additional licencing requirements for the protection of passengers in even the rarest of circumstances.
“Hopefully, we can get them to change this policy, which we think is not realistic,” said Colle. “So we’re going to ask them to change the police to make it possible to contact them in an emergency. If they don’t change the policy, then our legal department will pursue action.”
For Viscomi, Colle’s motion gives her some comfort.
“This is a validation. This tells me that this is a concern to everybody. The fact that it was passed speaks for itself.”
Uber says in the case of serious safety concerns, its policy is not to put riders in contact with drivers to ensure the safety of both parties. As for police, Uber says in this case, when officers reached out, it “shared the protocol for an expedited request.”
