Ideas for a scary moment — with Lyft
As a youngish Caucasian male, I have to admit that I very rarely feel in danger. But I had a unique circumstance happen to me recently, that broke out from this norm.
I had just gotten back from a work trip and hailed a Lyft at the airport. When I got into the ubiquitous prius, I was immediately met with the reek of a intoxicating substance. Though in hindsight I know I should have stepped right back out of the car, I didn’t.
It was super late at night, I was tired from traveling, and I stayed in the car.
As we pulled away, the driver cranked up some less than stellar tunes, that went hand in hand with the substance that I was now engulfed in.
So what was I supposed to do? I was physically bigger than that driver… but I actually felt scared for my safety. How intoxicated was the driver? Did he have a weapon on him? If I mentioned anything about the smell or the music, how far away would he be from snapping and becoming violent? If I cancelled the ride 3 minutes in, would that make him snap as well?
Though I am normally pretty brave and direct, I didn’t want to risk this situation. I instead chose a new destination, half way to my original destination, and played it off that I needed to do some shopping. Then I endured another 10 minutes, feeling pretty helpless…
So what should I have done?
Though I didn’t take a screengrab from the current Lyft app, here is basically what it looks like, on the left.
Should I… “Contact”? Who? But I don’t want to call and verbalize out loud what is happening with the driver, and then have him snap…
I saw no option to “Get Help” or “Report Trouble”, no red icon that immediately conveyed Help / Emergency / or Trouble.
It was one of the few times in my life that I actually felt helpless and scared. It was terrifying.
So what could be changed?
As a digital product designer, I wanted to experiment with a solution, so that no one in the future would encounter a similar situation. No human should be stuck with a stranger in a helpless situation like this, with a stranger and their life possibly in the balance.
A possible Solution
On the left, I found a newer version of the app that has been testing in select markets, so I modified it slightly to be in the context of “En Route”. I kept the “Send ETA” and “Cancel Ride” but added the “Get Help” button closest to the thumbs reach.
I wrestled greatly with what the next possible actions should be…
Call 9-1-1? No, if the driver is dangerous, you don’t want a voice call. And if the driver isn’t dangerous and you’re just in an emergency, why have a special button in the app to make a call? That is wasteful UI / digital noise.
Send Distress Signal
Instead, the “Send Distress Signal” button will immediately alert Lyft, who will contact local authorities on your behalf, with your exact location, while giving you further options to give more details, if you are able to. This is essentially the “Panic” button.
Divert to Safety + Chat
For the secondary action, I initially had a simple “Cancel Ride + chat with Lyft” option, but when I thought back to my situation, I remembered that I didn’t want to Cancel the ride, for fear of provoking my driver to anger and violence.
If a user chose to “Divert to Safety + chat”, Lyft will find a safe place on their current route and simply change the destination, a much softer approach with a less likely chance of tipping off the driver.
Quick Animation Test using Invision Studio
Conclusion
It is my hope that no one encounters a scary situation like I did. This was an extremely rare experience for me with Lyft, as I otherwise highly recommend their service and platform. I hope that my brief thoughts and ideas could be of benefit to Lyft and all it’s customers, myself included.
Thanks for reading!
