A Tampa Bay area Lyft driver involved in a January accident that injured his passenger is back on the road.
This comes after that passenger’s attorney told us the driver didn’t have insurance.
All Lyft drivers are required to have their own insurance and Lyft also provides insurance coverage.
The January crash may have revealed a flaw in the system.
“I’m still in a lot of pain,” said passenger Cameron Decker.
The Jan. 6 crash near the Green Light bar in St. Petersburg turned his world upside down.
He said he was riding in the passenger seat of a car driven by Lyft driver, Fares Mohamed Allababidi, when a van rear-ended them. Decker said the driver took off.
His attorney says Allababidi didn’t have insurance on his car.
Recently, Justin Linn asked for a ride with Lyft and Allababidi responded.
“I remember seeing news coverage on it. And also him sharing all the links about his situation, what was going on,” said Linn.
A Lyft spokesperson wrote in an email, “following a safety incident of this nature, our procedure is to temporarily deactivate accounts while we investigate. After we completed our investigation into this case, the driver was reactivated.”
The spokesperson stressed Lyft covers all drivers and passengers.
Linn said the driver cancelled the ride. He doesn’t know why.
He said he wouldn’t have gotten in anyway.
“When you’re getting in a car with a stranger, moving around, going 45 to 60 mmph, you can get hurt. I guess that’s why we have the laws in place to make sure all vehicles are insured,” said Linn.
Decker is waiting to see if his on-going medical costs will be covered.
“I take it as a personal insult when I saw that this guy still drives for them after everything I just had gone through,” he said.
The Lyft driver didn’t return a phone message. The Lyft spokesperson said its insurance carrier is working on this case.
