Uber drivers are praised for going above-and-beyond to ensure that their teenage passengers get home safely.
DaVante Williams, Washington, D.C., joined hundreds of others who were stuck for hours due to heavy snowfall this week on a section Interstate 95 in Virginia.
Williams stated that he woke up on Monday night after a long nap and opened his Uber Driver app to find many passengers looking for a ride.
He didn’t see any road closure advisories or alerts, so he set out to pick up three different riders around midnight on Tuesday morning.
Williams then picked up his fourth passenger from Union Station, a teenager, after her train to Williamsburg, Virginia was cancelled due to a derailment.
Around 20 miles in, everything came to an abrupt halt. Williams tried to get off of the highway, but was eventually directed back to I-95’s unmoving traffic.
He thought it was just a “little fender bender,” but it turned out to be far worse as hours went by, and they still hadn’t moved.
In an interview with NewsNation Now, Williams said the passenger was “so distraught” as they faced the gridlock traffic. The kind driver spoke to her parents to assure her that she was safe with him after it became apparent that her return journey home would be delayed by yet another snag.
“I had to explain to her parents that, ‘Hey, I’m not any one crazy. I’m just trying to get your daughter somewhere safe,’“ said Williams, a full-time realtor and property manager who also drives for Uber and Lyft on the side.
They ended up spending five and a-half hours stuck on I-95 overnight. Williams always carries water, crackers or some kind of juice with him and was able to share the snacks with the young passenger.
“I had little stuff to get us over,” he recalled.
Williams finally found a way to leave the freeway at around 7:30 AM the next day. The driver realized that Williams was tired from sitting in traffic all night, and that she was still quite far from home. He booked her a hotel room at 8:30 a.m. so that she could rest and plan alternative travel plans.
“I wanted to make sure she was comfortable. And I didn’t want to leave her stranded,” he told the outlet.
Williams offered to drive her home the rest of the road once the roads were cleared. Finally, Williams offered to drive her home with a friend of his family.
“I’m happy it was me that was her driver. Any other driver, I’m not sure what would have happened,” Williams said. “And based on her energy and her presence, I felt I was put there for a reason… to do what I did.”
The family thanked him for reuniting the teen with her parents and expressed their gratitude.
“She actually texted me and just thanked me … for everything that I had done for her that night,” Williams said.
Uber caught wind of Williams’ story, and they gave him a shoutout on Twitter. They wrote: “Not all heroes wear capes thank you, Davante!”
Williams was later praised for his actions by a representative from the company. They also asked for a receipt from the hotel to reimburse him.
All the attention also led Williams to be offered a part-time role as a “lead driver” for Ride Alto, where he will be in a supervising and managing role. The startup, which recently launched in D.C., describes itself as an “upscale ride-sourcing service.”
Many other similar stories have been reported after the I-95 shut down. One such story is that of a bakery that generously donated bread from their truck to hungry motorists.
Click the video below to see Williams discuss his story with NewsNation Now.
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