Boston Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Blog
Holiday Ride-share And Impaired-Driver Risk
Ride-sharing should make Boston safer during the holiday season. Most nights it does. But when an Uber or Lyft driver is impaired, passengers and other motorists can be left facing injuries and a complicated insurance landscape. If you were hurt after a festive night out because your ride-share driver was under the influence, you have rights, and the law provides multiple paths to recovery. The key is to act quickly while the evidence is still within reach, then ensure the right insurance coverage is triggered for the driver’s status at the time of the crash.
Why Ride-share Trip Status Matters
Trip status matters in ride-share cases. When the app is merely on, and the driver is waiting for a request, a different set of liability limits applies. Once a ride is accepted, and the driver is en route to a pickup, or you are already in the vehicle, higher coverage tiers come into play, often far greater than what a typical individual policy provides. In addition, if another motorist caused the crash, claims can be made against that driver’s insurance while we also evaluate your own uninsured and underinsured motorist protection. Understanding and enforcing these layers is part of our day-to-day work on holiday-season cases, because it is common for multiple carriers to attempt to shift responsibility.
Gathering And Preserving Proof Of Impairment
Evidence of impairment can come from ordinary observations as well as formal testing. Slurred speech, the odor of alcohol, lane weaving, abrupt braking, and missed turns are details you may remember vividly, but worry will be dismissed later as subjective. When we request the driver’s app data and crash logs, we often find objective support: timestamps show long delays, speed traces reveal erratic patterns, and event logs capture hard-brake and acceleration spikes. Police reports and body-camera footage, when available, provide additional clarity, and breath or blood test results, if part of the investigation, are essential anchors for any claim. In some cases, over-service at a bar or restaurant is also part of the story, and a potential dram shop claim may exist alongside the motor vehicle claims. That possibility makes speed essential; surveillance video, POS receipts, and staff schedules are routinely overwritten or discarded if we do not intervene quickly.
What To Document As A Passenger
Passengers sometimes worry that reporting an impaired ride-share driver will jeopardize their account or make future trips difficult. It won’t. You are asserting rights against insurance coverage designed for precisely this scenario. What helps most is to document what you can in the moment. Screenshot the trip page before it disappears from your recent-rides list, capturing the driver’s name, plate number, and route. If a friend rode with you, ask them to save their screenshots as well; two perspectives can make a timeline airtight. If you noticed a dash-cam mounted on the windshield or a camera aimed at the back seat, tell us. Those devices sometimes store data on removable cards that can be preserved before subsequent rides overwrite them.
Damages That Go Beyond The Er Bill
Your injuries and losses are not limited to the ER bill on the night of the crash. Concussions, soft-tissue injuries, and aggravations of pre-existing conditions often become more apparent in the days that follow, particularly after jolting impacts at low speeds in city traffic. We work with your providers to ensure treatment is documented clearly and that bills are directed appropriately while the insurance issues are being sorted. Lost wages, out-of-pocket expenses, scarring, pain and suffering, and future care needs are part of a complete recovery. If a family member tragically lost their life because of an impaired ride-share driver, we also pursue wrongful death damages and ensure the estate is set up correctly to protect the claim.
How Our Team Protects Your Rights
After an impaired-driver crash, you should not be left to navigate app screens, police departments, and insurance portals on your own. Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers will send preservation letters to Uber or Lyft, secure trip and telematics data, and identify every liable party, including any bar or host whose over-service contributed to the incident. We will speak for you so adjusters stop calling while you recover. Most importantly, we will pursue the full value of your case across all applicable coverage tiers. For a free consultation, call (617) 777-7777 or contact us through our secure online form anytime.