While discussion about the safety of ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft often centres on passenger welfare, drivers face greater risks on a daily basis.
It only takes one wrong ‘un in a string of unvetted riders to turn just another day behind the wheel into something far worse.
For one woman who drives in and around Nashville for a rideshare company, collecting the rider from hell went from a slim statistical possibility to a terrifying reality last week.
But although the unlucky driver was forced to take desperate measures, jumping from her own vehicle as it raced along the highway, her quick-thinking and bravery almost certainly prevented a nastier outcome.
Carolina Vargas, 26, got a job on May 5 taking trucker Christopher Miller to a hotel in Cleveland, Tennessee, after his rig broke down.
Though that first trip passed uneventfully, things went downhill after Miller contacted Vargas three days later to drive him back to Nashville.
During the return journey, Miller told Vargas he knew of a faster way that would avoid traffic. When Miller questioned him about the proposed new route, he suddenly pulled out a knife.
“I didn’t do anything to trigger him and he put the knife here in my side and said, ‘Now you are going to do what I say,’” Vargas said, according to WTVF.
When her pleas to be let go fell on deaf ears, Vargas realized she had only one choice: exit the moving vehicle ASAP.
“I took my seat belt off and grabbed my phone and in that second that’s when I opened the door and jumped,” Vargas said. “I just remember feeling a ball of fire where the tire drove over me.”
Vargas hit the pavement beside the Cleveland Highway near Cohutta, Georgia, breaking several teeth and injuring her face and legs. However, she admits she got off lightly.
“I didn’t break one bone. And I’m so grateful just to be alive. I couldn’t believe everything was so fast,” she said.
Vargas was taken to the Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton, Georgia, after a passer-by pulled over to help. Following treatment she was eventually released.
Investigators began to close the net on Miller after obtaining photos of him: one from a driver’s license used during his hotel stay and another from Vargas, who often takes photos of her fares.
Police tracked Miller by his cell phone’s GPS to a motel in Jacksonville, Florida, where he was arrested Monday.
He faces charges of aggravated assault, kidnapping and theft of a vehicle.