City Council will likely vote on new rideshare safety ordinance Wednesday
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago City Council is expected to vote on an ordinance designed to protect the safety of rideshare customers Wednesday.
The ordinance would impose a minimum $10,000 fine and up to 90 days in jail for anyone *posing as a rideshare driver" from Uber, Lyft or Via.
That's a softening of the original proposal, which would have imposed a $20,000 fine and six months in jail against phony drivers.
Late last year, a young woman told police a man posing as her rideshare driver in the Boston area kidnapped and raped her. That case came less than a year after 21-year-old Samantha Josephson got into a stranger's car, thinking it was an Uber, and the driver allegedly activated child safety locks on the door so she could not escape.
RELATED: Man posing as Uber driver accused of kidnapping, raping woman
Her body was found the next day.
The man behind the wheel, Nathaniel David Rowland, was charged in the murder of the University of South Carolina student. Uber said Rowland did not work for the company.
"We encourage all riders to match the vehicle's license plate, make and model, and the driver's name to the information provided in the Uber app before getting in," the company told ABC News.
Uber also recently launched a new feature that sends riders a four-digit pin code they can use to verify their car.
