Many people do not realize how risky for-hire driving is. Limousine, taxi and rideshare drivers are actually put at great risk driving passengers, especially in large cities.

Worse, in many parts of the world and the U.S. for-hire drivers are treated as independent contractors and do not have the benefits of workers’ compensation coverage. That would pay for medical bills and lost wages when hurt on the job and death benefits for survivors in the event of a fatality.

Additionally, ride-share drivers use their personal car for transporting passengers and in the event of an accident they lose their mobility until the car is repaired and insurance is settled. Many times this takes weeks or months, all without income. Many of these drivers find themselves saddled with crushing medical bills, loss of transportation and unable to return to work or get other jobs.

The explosion of rideshare work and resultant accidents has created a growing subset of incapacitated workers on the edge of poverty and homelessness. Learn more about what needs to be done to protect these workers. Uber’s Nifty Workers Comp Insurance Carrier: GoFundMe

Below are links to many of these drivers that have reached out to charity websites like GoFundMe and GiveForward to ask for help in getting them back to work. In some cases, when the family breadwinner has been killed, the surviving members reach out for burial costs and medical bills. Click on the thumbnail image and read their stories, then donate for a good cause to help keep them off the poverty rolls.

If you know of a for-hire driver that has been injured or had his car damaged or totaled, get them to post on one of these social funding sites and send the link to Rideshare Justice Project and we will add it to the list.