Reno officials, family urge stricter ride-share rules after Uber Teen crash
RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — A Reno family is raising concerns about the safety of Uber’s ride-sharing service for teenagers after a harrowing incident involving their 15-year-old son, Huck Zander.
On February 8, Huck used the Uber Teen service to travel to Mt. Rose Ski Resort. However, the ride took a dangerous turn when the driver allegedly snorted a substance and passed out, causing the car to crash.
“We’ve used Uber Teen a couple of times before. We’d put it on our phone so that he had a little bit of freedom,” said Huck’s mother, Laura Zander.
Huck recounted the terrifying moments leading up to the crash. “He stopped and he said, ‘just give me a second’ and then I watched his hand come up to his nose and I watched him, I watched his hand come up to his nose and he sniffed something,” Huck said. The driver then lost consciousness, and the car continued moving until it hit a tree and flipped.
“It ramped off the tree is and then it flipped,” Huck said. “I was completely upside down, and I was, I was being held up by my seatbelt,” he added.
Huck suffered minor injuries.
The crash happened at the top of Ridgeview Drive on Reno’s westside.
Emergency responders, including Reno Police, arrived at the scene, but did not test the 33-year-old Uber driver for drugs or alcohol. Reno Police Chief Kathryn Nance explained, “There was no objective symptoms of intoxication that our officers observed, they were also checked out by a medical team who did not also did not feel that there was objective symptoms of intoxication, and that when the officers looked in the car, they didn’t see anything that would lead us to believe that there was any intoxicants on board.”
The driver was cited for a civil moving violation for “failure to use due care.” The case was referred to the Department of Motor Vehicles for further investigation into potential medical conditions affecting the driver’s ability.
Laura Zander expressed frustration with the response from both emergency services and Uber. “Common sense would tell you ‘hey, this guy at 8 in the morning just rolled a car with a kid and the kid is telling me these stories, let’s just be safe,'” she said.
Uber for teens promotes itself as a service with “highly rated” and “experienced” drivers who undergo thorough background checks. However, Laura found this misleading. “Technically it says highly rated drivers, not highly vetted,” she said.
Laura also criticized Uber’s lack of follow-up after the crash. Although Huck received a notification from Uber asking if he was okay, no further contact was made. Attempts to obtain audio recordings from the incident were unsuccessful, as Uber stated it was up to the teen to record audio through the app.
Laura met with Reno Police Chief Nance and Mayor Hillary Schieve, who are considering new ordinances and protocols for ride-share companies. “We looked at what are other cities doing and we’re still doing that evaluation process with our legal team,” said Chief Nance.
Mayor Schieve emphasized the need for local oversight. “As I started to dig into it and look at what protections could we put into place. A lot of that was under the state’s jurisdiction. And I still think that the local municipalities should have some oversight over this, so we can address any challenges that we’re experiencing,” she said.
The Zander family is speaking out to warn others. “I think people just need to be very, very, very aware that what’s being marketed is not what’s being delivered,” Laura said, adding that Huck will no longer use Uber Teen and will rely on friends for transportation instead.
