From now on, app-based taxis will be safer, as regulations have come into force requiring much more thorough verification of drivers. Not only when they just start working, but also at regular intervals.
It happened while she was returning home in a taxi on the app. – He turned into a forest road, stopped the car, locked the door, turned on the headliner light, turned to me and said “shhh…” – says an anonymous victim who managed to escape.
In Warsaw alone, in 2022, 35 cases of sexual violence in app-based rides were reported. The problem affects the entire country. That is why regulations to increase safety in taxis have come into force. – First of all, we can increase the certainty that the person who registered with the company to provide transport services is the person who then provides these services – explains Aleksandra Gajewska from PO.
Watch the report “App Rape” on TVN24 GO
It was MP Gajewska who piloted the changes in the regulations. Thanks to cross-party support, from now on every driver working for companies such as Uber, Bolt or FreeNow must appear in person to verify their identity and take a photo. In order to randomly check, at least once every fifty transports, whether the passenger is transported by the person displayed in the application. – Changes are needed because there is one main problem – there are several drivers in one car, and it is not fair – emphasizes Arkadiusz, a taxi driver from Wrocław.
Increased driver checks “from the application”Lower Silesian Police
Safety first
Taxi drivers remind us that the regulations include appropriate car markings. From now on, passenger transport intermediaries, under threat of financial penalties, must check each driver’s identity card, driving license and certificate of no criminal record in Poland. According to experts, these regulations are still imperfect. – All he has to do is stay in our country for a month and he will receive such a certificate. Well, he didn’t do anything in Poland, but what did he do at home? We don’t know that – explains Adrian Furgalski from the “TOR” Economic Advisory Team.
In response to questions from “Fakty” TVN, representatives of the three largest carriers wrote on the application that they had already implemented the regulations adopted in spring. Each application introduces additional security measures that are worth using – such as sharing routes with loved ones, an alarm button or the ability to record sound while traveling. – Any regulations that strengthen the situation of women are good and desirable. It is also important that they are performed properly, emphasizes Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram, a lawyer from the “Free Courts” Foundation. This is an appeal to the services to let a woman hurt in a taxi know that she will receive help.
Main photo source: Fakty TVN