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House advances ‘Sami’s Law’ to make ride-sharing safer in America

The U.S. House of Representatives has advanced “Sami’s Law” – a law named after a New Jersey woman who lost her life allegedly at the hands of a man posing as her Uber driver.

News 12 Staff

Jul 30, 2020, 3:09 AM

Updated 1,632 days ago

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The U.S. House of Representatives has advanced “Sami’s Law” – a law named after a New Jersey woman who lost her life allegedly at the hands of a man posing as her Uber driver.
The law would make ride-sharing safer in the country and has unanimous support in the House.
Rep. Chris Smith helped to push for the passage of the law, which will require companies like Uber and Lyft to notify customers as to whom is picking them up.
“Sami’s Law is designed to protect both passengers and drivers,” said Smith. “That also puts into this whole system much more accountability. Everybody knows who is driving that car or that vehicle.”
Such notification will likely be in the form of a PIN and could have very well saved Samantha Josephson’s life.
Josephson died in 2019. She was a student at the University of South Carolina and had called for an Uber. But she accidentally got into the car of Nathaniel Rowland who had the rear child locks secured. Josephson couldn’t get out. Rowland is now on trial for her murder.
“I wish that we had Samantha here with us instead,” says father Seymour Josephson.
The Josephson family says that they are pleased that the law is advancing. Josephson’s parents have been pushing for reform since her death.
The bill will also make it illegal to sell ride-share signage to help stop impostors. It creates an advisory council and mandates reports on abuse and creates nonvisual methods for deaf and blind customers to identify drivers.
“It’s that digital handshake that we want to make sure it happens before someone gets into the car or attempts to get into the car,” Seymour Josephson says.
The bill has bipartisan support, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying, "Passing Sami's Law is a fitting tribute to her memory, and it is critical to ensuring that rideshare companies have protections in place for the safety and well-being of all their passengers."
The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate. If it passes there, it will go to President Donald Trump’s desk for approval.