Woman has crazy trip with reckless Uber driver

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A woman is telling a terrifying story about a reckless ride in an Uber car.

There’s been a lot of debate in Nashville over regulating ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft.

A Nashville passenger wants others to know how quickly things can go wrong when you get in the back seat with the wrong driver.

Two weeks ago, Rebecca Seaver found herself in a frightening situation over the course of that ride, not once, but twice.

On Jan. 16, a night out with a friend turned scary when she used an app on her phone to summon a Uber driver.

“A young man picked me up. He was very nice. He was in a very nice BMW. I felt fine getting in the car with him,” Seaver told WSMV TV.

From there, Seaver said things got weird.

About five minutes in, she looked up from her phone to discover they were weaving in and out of traffic at speeds up to 85 mph.

“I asked him ‘Could you please slow down because I’m not really in a rush’ and he looked at me with this dead look on his face and said ‘You need to keep your mouth shut for the rest of the ride.’ I was just stunned,” Seaver said.

Stunned, yet assertive, Seaver said she gave him an option, slow down or let her out of the car.

One exit later she found herself stranded on the corner of Douglas Avenue in East Nashville at 2 a.m.

“At that point I felt sort of stranded and kind of stupid,” Seaver said. “I didn’t have a weapon or anything on me. I didn’t have any way to protect myself in the situation, so I felt really stupid at that point.”

The next day Seaver shared her story on Facebook and got a call from Uber saying they were permanently deactivating the driver she was with that night.

It’s a story she’s sharing in an effort to warn other women about the potential dangers.

“You need to be alert all the time,” Seaver said. “You need to pay attention. You’re getting into a car with a stranger.”

Seaver said she still recommends ride-sharing over cabs because at least they have the mechanisms in place to track drivers when something like this happens.

Uber officials confirmed to Channel 4 News that “the driver has been permanently removed from the Uber platform for unacceptable behavior. We have been in touch with the rider, apologized for such a horrible experience and are glad the situation has been resolved without incident.”