On June 5 during rush hour at Karavayevy Dachy in Kyiv, a Mercedes-Benz drove into an underground pedestrian crossing. Four people died, and there was a Bolt passenger in the car. The driver — 49-year-old Pavlo Pleshivtsev from Kherson region — was sober at the time of the accident and had an active account on the platform.

39 violations that Bolt didn't know about

According to patrol police data, Pleshivtsev's vehicle had 39 traffic violations on record — mostly speeding, with 18 of them occurring in 2024 alone. Since the start of 2025, he had been held administratively liable five times specifically for speeding. Bolt knew nothing about this.

Platforms do not have automatic access to state databases regarding traffic violations and driver fines due to the lack of appropriate technical integration.

— Bolt Ukraine

This is neither an excuse nor an exception. Bolt's General Manager in Ukraine Sergiy Pavlyk called this a systemic problem across the entire ridesharing industry: Uber, Uklon and other services operate under the same conditions. Platforms verify documents during registration, but after that — they're operating blind.

What Bolt changed after the tragedy

• Pleshivtsev's account was blocked permanently — immediately after the circumstances of the accident became known.
• From now on, two complaints from passengers about speeding or dangerous driving style will be grounds for permanent blocking.
• The company promises to strengthen preliminary verification: more thorough document checks, driving experience review and violation history before allowing access to the platform.
• Bolt is in dialogue with government agencies about a mechanism that would give platforms access to current data on traffic violations in real time.

The passenger who was in the car during the accident survived. The company maintains contact with her and is assisting in obtaining necessary help.

Where the gap remains

The new two-complaint policy is a filter based on passenger reviews, not objective data. A driver with 39 violations could have driven people for years without a single complaint in the app if passengers didn't leave reviews or left them with a delay. Until integration with state registries is operational — platforms depend on customer vigilance, not on the system itself.

The question is not whether Bolt will block the next Pleshivtsev after an accident — it will. The question is whether technical integration with violation registries will be implemented before the next accident happens, not after it.