Proactive Prevention Efforts

We applaud the recent decision by Uber to release a safety report detailing the incidences of sexual violence, fatal accidents and deadly assaults experienced by their customers and employees over the past two years. Partnering with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) and the Urban Institute, they created an open source classification system to help all companies improve the safety for their customers and employees. In many ways, this is an unprecedented decision by a corporation and NPEIV joins Karen Baker, Executive Director of NSVRC in recognizing that Uber is “setting a new high bar for corporate responsibility and transparency.”

While the numbers revealed in the report may be surprising to some, sexual violence is a pervasive public health issue and much more common than the public often realizes. Prevention is only possible when the public recognizes and understands the commonality of sexual violence which then, in turn, can lead to proactive prevention efforts and meaningful change. Education is key to prevention and, though education of the scope of the issue, our communities can be empowered to proactively tackle sexual violence, as well as all forms of interpersonal violence, within society.