Wouldn't Uber still be safer overall for passengers when it comes to intentional crimes (not accidents)? In Uber, a driver may commit a crime, but the nature of requesting a ride means there's now a direct link between a victim and the identity of a driver. A driver could only commit a crime one time before his identity became known, so there's no way to have a serial offender.

Compared to hailing a taxi, police can't necessarily trace a victim back to a specific driver, so that person could theoretically commit repeated crimes.

This personally gives me a lot more confidence when it comes to putting trust in a driver.

Also, from a cursory glance over that link, a few of those appear to be misleading headlines in which the actual story is "a person, who happens to be an Uber driver, committed a crime".