Imagine finding out that someone you loved used a Rideshare service to get to a bridge where they then committed suicide. It’s not an easy thing to think about. Suicide never is. But when it comes to identifying ways to reduce suicide by bridge, our founder Jake has a view to the problem unlike many others do. He told our team the story of how a 15-year-old took a 2.5 hour, one-way rideshare, the end destination was the Golden Gate Bridge.
It’s a scenario that raises many questions. How was a minor able to use a rideshare service? Why were they allowed to be let out alone at a well-known suicide spot? Why didn’t the 2.5-hour one-way trip raise flags for the driver who accepted the ride?
Ridesharing Services: An Overview
A ridesharing company is a company that uses websites and mobile apps to match passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire that, unlike taxicabs, cannot legally be hailed from the street. In the United States alone Uber facilitates 15 million rides every day. Ridesharing services are easily accessible by anyone with access to a smartphone or computer. To use a ridesharing service, a user downloads the company’s app, sets up a profile, adds payment terms, and can begin requesting rides. Drivers receive ‘ride request’ alerts to accept or decline. The person who requested the ride is alerted of who will pick them up and when, and the trip commences.
Rideshare services are a way of life for many, offering flexible, affordable, convenient transportation for those who don’t have a car.
Safety Concern: Transporting Minors to Dangerous Locations
A pressing safety concern facing ridesharing services today revolves around minors being taken to potentially dangerous locations, such as the scenario I earlier described. Ridesharing companies have implemented policies to prevent minors from using their services, yet unaccompanied minors have still been able to use ridesharing services to get to potentially dangerous locations.
TSBP Advocates for Stronger Safety Measures
People considering suicide often spend weeks or months researching how they will carry out their plan. Transportation to a known suicide bridge would factor into such planning. The Suicide Bridge Project advocates for stronger safety and support measures to prevent minors from being able to use ridesharing services as transportation to known suicide locations and other dangerous sites. We feel further discussion is needed on this topic to:
- Protect the safety of minors. Protection is paramount. Rideshare providers do currently have guidelines. These guidelines specify that to have an Uber account and to be able to request rides a person must be over the age of 18. But even with this policy in place, minors are using ridesharing services without parental consent. This act alone makes minors vulnerable.
- Prevent suicides. Minors – and adults – experiencing a mental health crisis may be at risk of harming themselves. They may turn to ridesharing services to transport them to dangerous locations. The journey to the suicide site must be considered as a point of intervention.
- Ensure accountability. Rideshare companies are commonplace today. And they make a lot of money. Allocating funding to the ongoing monitoring and training of rideshare drivers knowledge in this area is critical.
Rideshare Suicide Prevention Solutions
Suicide prevention is a team sport. Sometimes it can just take one person reaching out to a suicidal person to intervene in a positive way. Sometimes, that person may be a rideshare driver. Expecting rideshare drivers to be able to identify someone who is suicidal might be asking a lot – depression and mental crisis looks different on different people. But in the above example, and in the case of a 12-year-old who used a rideshare app in her planning, ongoing training and examples of scenarios rideshare drivers should flag may have helped prevent disaster.
Some solutions on the table:
- Implement stronger regulations around minors and transport to dangerous sites
- Better enforce existing regulations around transportation of minors
- Require continual driver training programs related to identifying suicide situations
- Strengthen age verification processes across the ridesharing experience. Enable drivers to request age identification when they feel it necessary.
- Provide signage or in-app language related to suicide prevention
Keep the Conversation Going
At The Suicide Bridge Project, we strive for a future where fewer families receive a devastating phone call letting them know someone they love has ended their life—by jumping from a bridge, or other means. Our work identifying, intervening, and advocating, creates bridges between people, both in-person and digitally.
If you have thoughts and information you’d like to share on the topic of ‘rideshare services and suicide prevention’ please contact us. If you are interested in learning more about training and support TSBP can provide to teams, please reach out to us here.
About Adam Alonso
Adam Alonso is a Suicide Bridge Project board member. He oversees all operations, ensuring The Suicide Bridge Project leverages best practices in our process, language, and UX. Adam often writes on suicide prevention topics that have a technological angle.
