Calling into question the oft-repeated corporate claim that Uber availability reduces drunk driving, a new study from the American Journal of Epidemiology shows that the dangerous and illegal behavior is continuing along seemingly unabated despite the ride-hail app's wide adoption and popularity. Picked up by KQED, the study suggests that the feel-good line from Uber's PR department about saving lives may, in the end, just be a feel-good line.
Looking at the number of drunk-driving related fatalities in the 100 most-populated metropolitan areas in the US since the launch of Uber, the study's authors determined that Uber, perhaps surprisingly, really wasn't a factor in drunk and impaired driving. "We found that the deployment of Uber services in a given metropolitan county had no association with the number of subsequent traffic fatalities, whether measured in aggregate or specific to drunk-driving fatalities or fatalities during weekends and holidays," the study abstract reads.
But why would that be? Surely the service has been a godsend to partying college students across the Midwest and elsewhere — why wouldn't that have some sort of effect? The answer might be two-fold: Uber is expensive and drunk people are dumb.
"The average inebriated individual contemplating drunk driving may not be sufficiently rational to substitute drinking and driving for a presumably safer Uber ride," study authors posit. "[It] is also possible that many drunk drivers rationally conclude that it is too costly to pay for an Uber ride (or taxi) given that the likelihood of getting arrested for drinking and driving is actually quite low."
The Washington Post got in touch with Uber, and a spokesperson for the company cited internal data to back up the company's claims of making our roads safer. "We're glad Uber can provide an alternative to drunk driving and help people make more responsible choices," spokeswoman Brooke Anderson told the paper. "Our ridership numbers show that trips peak at times when people are more likely to be out drinking and 80% of riders says that Uber has helped them personally avoid drinking and driving.”
The study also suggests another possibility: Uber riders wouldn't be drunk drivers anyway. "Uber may be a substitute for taxis and other forms of public transportation but not a substitute for drunk driving," it reads. "Accordingly, Uber passengers may have formerly been taxi and public transit users, and thus the number of at-risk drivers on the road would not substantially change."
The study's co-author, David Kirk, told the Post that while Uber doesn't appear to be making roads safer today, things could change in the future. "In the grand scheme of the massive volume of drunk drivers on the road, it’s hard to foresee Uber making a dent, unless the growth continues like it has for several more years.”
We're sure that would make both Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and safe-streets advocates exceedingly happy.
