By Lyle Adriano
Ohio has gotten busy pursuing more regulations for the popular ride service, Uber. Notably, one of the issues the House seeks to address is what Rep. Bob Hackett, R-London, called “gaps in insurance coverage.”
Hackett described the three phases of Uber’s service to elaborate his point. The first phase refers to when an Uber driver has logged into the app and is waiting for a customer to request a ride. The second is when a request has been made and the driver is on his way to pick the customer up. The last phase covers from when a customer gets in the car until getting out or when the driver logs off from the app. While Uber and other similar ride services usually provide insurance for the latter two phases, they do not for the first.
“This is a critical gap because it allows drivers to potentially drive uninsured while performing a commercial activity,” Hackett argues. “We believe it is imperative to protect Ohioans from avoidable risks while ensuring innovative businesses are able to thrive in Ohio.”
“We want to be a business-friendly state, we want jobs to grow, we want innovation, we want construction, we want these kinds of technologies to come to compete for consumer dollars and to drive prices down and improve quality. But in order to do that, we need to be able to operate in different communities,” says Rep. Mike Duffey, R-Worthington.
