Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra
Tammy's views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy's neighbors, Earl Fisher, Betsy Johnson, Joe Corsiglia, President Obama, Tony Hyde, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia's dog, or Claudia Eagle's Cats. This Tammy's Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone.

Uber defends its driver screening even after their driver went on a mass shooting spree killing 6 people in Kalamazoo Michigan last Saturday. James Dalton made around 100 trips after passing the driver screening in the last month. Dalton picked up passengers and dropped them off then shot people in between. Passengers complained about Daltons erratic driving the day he went on his murderous spree. Still Uber defended their policy.

While there were no prior problems with Dalton's history --- a clear record-- any background checks would not have turned anything up so no red flags were apparent. Any driver who has any violence problems are deactivated but drivers who have been reported to have been driving recklessly are allowed to continue to drive and pick up fares until their driving has been looked in to. In my opinion a driver who is driving recklessly or erratically needs to be immediately deactivated until an investigation proves the charges false.

Uber uses rider ratings to evaluate the drivers and security, something to which I do not agree with. Uber out sources their background checks to CHECKR which has simple forums for drivers to fill out but does NOT require finger prints for the background check nor as some people want that they require a face to face meeting. Law enforcement agencies have stated that Uber's procedure is extremely safe and having a face to face meeting with someone will not identify the fact that someone is going to have a psychotic breakdown.

In India Uber has installed a panic button which would call the police if a rider feels unsafe and Uber had decided to do the same in Chicago but then decided not to because they felt that the device would interfere with 911. Uber also have installed an accelerometer in their drivers smartphones to curb dangerous driving this pilot program is in Huston but failed to say if they would expand this country wide.

In addition to being an Uber driver Dalton was an insurance adjuster. Either way Dalton is a cold blooded killer plain and simple. There was no way Uber could have known what Dalton was going to do and I believe no one would have known--- no matter how strict of a back ground check that was done. Even if he was driving for a union cab company he could have carried out his killing spree because he was hell bent on killing and would have carried out the crime any way he could.

I personally would not use Uber because I believe in using union cab drivers. I believe union cab drivers have to pass a stronger background check so maybe just maybe they weed out a few of undesirable people.