Parents of slain college student call for ride-share safety reform

The parents of a Robbinsville woman allegedly killed by a man she mistakenly thought was her Uber driver testified in Trenton to call for ride-share safety reform.
New Jersey lawmakers are considering a bill that would require ride-share drivers to display an ID, including a barcode that can be read by a cellphone needed to activate the ride. The bill is inspired by the death of Samantha Josephson, who was killed in South Carolina in March.
“We have New Jersey that I want to take the lead. I want them to be the first state to enact this and be the leader,” says Josephson’s father, Seymour Josephson.
The family began the “What’s My Name” awareness campaign immediately after their daughter’s death in an effort to get ride-share customers to double-check that they are in the correct vehicle. The Josephsons also traveled to Capitol Hill to ask lawmakers to regulate the kind of identification the drivers have on display.
“This is really what we have in mind to date. To have [a QR Code] on the back window of the vehicle so that anybody gets on will know the driver, the identification, the QR code,” says state Sen. Pat Diegnan.
Lawmakers said they were open to changing the bills as they move through the Legislature.
“Everybody is on board, whether it be state agencies, the companies and obviously the family, etc., to get this done,” Diegnan says.
The Josephsons say that they want to prevent what happened to their daughter from happening to anyone else.
Sami’s Law passed the joint legislative committee. It now heads to votes in the full state Assembly and Senate.