If you’re thinking of calling an Uber or a Lyft this weekend, you might want to buckle up, literally and figuratively.
Researchers out of the University of Illinois Chicago say they’ve found one in three rideshare drivers have crashed on the job.
The study used survey data from 277 drivers to see how safe they were; between distracted driving, the fact that many are tired from driving as a side gig and the possibility they might be driving unfamiliar roads, it’s more dangerous than you might think.
Add to those negatives their passengers: “You’ve got a stranger entering your vehicle. They may be unruly. They may be drunk,” study coauthor Lee Friedman with the university’s School of Public Health said in a statement.
Booking their next ride and communicating with potential passengers while ferrying others — as well as having your passengers fighting, making out or puking (or maybe all three) — is certainly a level of “distracted driving” that most of us don’t face on the regular.