Parents of slain SC student: Ask driver 'What's my name?'
PHILADELPHIA -- The parents of Samantha Josephson, the University of South Carolina student from Robbinsville, New Jersey who was killed after she got into a stranger's car, thinking it was her Uber, are now on a mission to make ridesharing services safe.
In an ABC News exclusive interview, Seymour and Marci Josephson sat down with George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America" on Monday.
George: This hit home for so many of us, and we are so sorry for your loss. We know it's hard for you to come in here today, but you promised that Samantha will not be forgotten. What do you want everybody to know about her?
Marci: We just want you to know that she was a fabulous young woman. Kind, a best friend to everyone, really determined, hard worker and a fun young woman.
George: You called her sweet pea?
Seymour: Yeah. I call both of my children sweet pea. They are just -- both of my kids are phenomenal. They are our best friend. And as the vigil said, all the kids that got up, they all said that she's my best friend, she's my best friend, and to us, our kids are our best friends.
George: Now you're going to try to save the lives of so many other kids and so many other people all across the country, around the world. What are the big changes you want to see happen right now?
Seymour: So South Carolina is in the process of passing the law for the illumination of the signs and I think that's great. It's a great start.
George: Put the signs up in the windows.
Seymour: Yes, and I think that's great, but with this, what happened was that Samantha mistakenly thought this was her Uber, and --
George: It wasn't even an Uber driver.
Seymour: It wasn't an Uber. He was impersonating an Uber driver. And one of the things we want to do is - there are 19 states that do not have front license plates on their car, and South Carolina happened to be one of them, so you can't see when the car's pulling up. You can't see the front license plate, so I think -- I'm not saying to change all the states and make it mandatory, but if you are going to be in the ridesharing industry, you should have a front license plate.
George: And there are so many things that all of us have to do, that important question you ask before you can get the car - 'what's my name?'
Marci: It has to be automatic like putting on a seat belt. You have to ask, 'what's my name?' Because it can be anyone, and if the only thing we can do is to help change the way everyone thinks so no one else has to go through this.
Seymour: I think also another real big thing that can change the rideshare industry is by putting a QR code on the back windows of both the driver side and passenger side.
George: Like a bar code.
Seymour: A bar code, right. You put your phone up to it and if it turns green, it's my ride. If it's not, it turns red. The technology is already out there. It's a very easy way to implement this -- the safety of the consumer, as well as the driver.
George: I can imagine you have probably been hearing from so many people across the country since this happened, reaching out with sympathy and help.
Marci: Yeah. We have heard from strangers all over the country, and so many people have told us it could have been our daughter or our son, ourselves.
George: All of us think that.
Marci: And I think it's just become such a natural, or a new phenomenon, using Uber, but we trust people, and you can't. You have to change the way the laws are to make it safer. Because that's our nature, we automatically assume we're safe, and we put our loved ones in an Uber or a Lyft.
Seymour: We grow up teaching our kids not to get in cars with strangers and what do we do? We get in cars with strangers.
George: And that's why we have to change the way we think about all this.
Marci: And laws have to change.
Seymour: We have spoken to our local congressman and they want to do something together with us.
Marci: Federally.
Seymour: And we want to put this together and make sure it passes and it's a bipartisan issue.
George: That's fitting in so many ways. I know Samantha wanted to go to law school. The University of South Carolina will be giving her degree posthumously in May. And I know you want to be there for her.
Marci: It will be the hardest thing for us to go, but we need to go.
Seymour: She wanted us there.
Marci: She wanted us there, and I had reviewed some of our old text messages. She had said something about us not being able to attend and she said it was alright if we didn't attend, and we said, we wouldn't miss it for the world.
George: Of course, you won't. And you're going to help a lot of people with what you are doing right now. We're sorry again for your loss, and thank you for coming in.
Josephson, 21, was a USC senior bound for Drexel Law School.
Video shows Josephson's last moments alive as she stepped into the back of the vehicle around 2 a.m. on March 29. Her body was discovered less than 24 hours later in a field 90 miles away. She was stabbed to death. The man behind the wheel -- Nathaniel David Rowland - has been charged with her murder. Police found blood in his car and Josephson's cell phone.
ABC News has learned Rowland had a violent past with charges of burglary, carjacking, kidnapping and abduction less than six months before Josephson's death.
As discussed in the GMA interview, the South Carolina House passed the "Samantha L. Josephson Ridesharing Safety Act" bill to make it easier for riders to identify vehicles that are part of a transportation network company which include Uber and Lyft vehicles.
Besides the new legislation, Change.org is also circling a petition calling it the #WhatsMyName campaign calling on Uber and Lyft to use a bar code to ensure both the riders know they have the correct vehicle and the drivers know they have the right passenger. The petition is close to its 300,000 signatures needed.
