Welcome to access pro rata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision

of tech, business, and politics. I'm Dan Permac. On today's show, China's Big Ban and how

Amazon will wind up in New York City after all. But first, Uber comes clean on assaults.

So for a few years now, I've been trying to convince my mother to take Uber or some other

ride hail service like Lyft, particularly after she complains about the trials and tribulations

of driving and parking in the city. But each time she insists that Uber and its peers aren't safe,

recalling some news story or another about how someone was assaulted, raped, or even murdered.

And here's the thing. She's not exactly wrong. Uber last week came out with its first

ever report on assault in its U.S. ride hail business and found that over 3,000 people were sexually assaulted

last year.

Another nine people were murdered and 58 were killed in accidents.

Now first, some context.

The overall number there works out to 0.002 percent, which is the same percentage as your

likelihood of being struck by lightning.

And nearly 10 percent of the assaults and around half the murders were of drivers, not of riders.

And many of the accidental deaths were of pedestrians or caused by drivers of non-Uber vehicles.

But still, over 3,000 times an Uber ride ended in severe trauma.

And it comes at a time when Uber and other ride hail companies are under pressure from

regulators over their labor practices and from Wall Street over their lack of profits.

It's one of those times when disclosure itself is positive, but what we learned isn't.

And it now creates more incentive for Uber and its peers to do stricter background checks

on drivers and implement more safety

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