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Uber Lowers Drunk Driving Arrests In San Francisco Dramatically
schwit1 writes: According to crime statistics from the San Francisco Police Department there were only two drunken driving arrests last New Year's Eve in San Francisco, the lowest since 2009. This news comes on the heels of a new study revealing that the introduction of UberX reduces drunk driving deaths across California. Temple University's Brad Greenwood and Sunil Wattal published a paper that shows cheap taxi-like options make it easier for people to make the safer decision to call for a ride rather than driving home themselves.
Uber rates are of course cheaper because the drivers don't carry commercial insurance, paying regular insurance rates, and thus raising the rates for everyone else as consequence.
Now, if the argument is that public subsidized taxi services can reduce drunk driving rates, then by all means, create public subsidies for taxis operating in areas and times that people often would otherwise drive drunk. Don't just use this hidden, across-the-board, everywhere-at-all-times subsidy-by-insurance-miscategorization.
"99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
So if it was lower in 2009, and Uber didn't exist in 2009, it follows that you haven't isolated the drunk drive factor!
Also you then need to figure out what makes them not drunk-drive. If its the easy booking by phone, well taxis can be ordered by phone so the reduction in recent years might be attributed to the easy book-by-smartphone apps, not specifically the unlicensed nature of Uber taxis!
Likewise if its price, then maybe reducing the price of taxis is the solution, rather than replacing taxis with unlicensed ones.
Really? Because it's the insurance companies that determine that third-party premiums should be higher if you're carrying third parties as paying passengers. The government just says you must have correct insurance. Oh, and they mandate background checks to, you know, protect the public from cab drivers who are paedos or murderers, but yeah we don't want that, obviously.
The problem with you mindlessly pro-uber people is you don't understand why regulations exist in the first place. Just because regulatory system design is hard doesn't mean we don't need regulatory systems. Maybe you're too stupid to realize that Uber is just another regulatory system? Once you grok that you can see that the question isn't about regulations vs no regulations. It's about regulation in the public interest vs regulation towards private interests. Never mind. When Uber is charging more for badges than the state ever did, you'll get it.
No. Adequate publicly available transport reduces drunk driving arrests in San Francisco dramatically. There. Fixed your headline. No need to thank me.
I had a dream, bright and carefree, but now there's doubt and gravity
This so stupid it hurts my head. How is requiring a drivers license which shows proficiency at operating a motor vehicle anywhere near the same as saying you need a license to have a passenger in the car? The anti-uber trolls are so clueless....
Hey, I don't think any of us would argue against MORE competition in this market!!
I think that the gypsy cab thing, however, might not be the super competitor that Uber is, in that they don't have the great app that makes Uber so easy to use.
I just tried Uber for the first time this past week and I was blow away. The cars were all so nice, the drivers so polite and fun to talk with, and the PRICE was right. I also never had to wait more than 5 minutes to get a ride.
The Uber experience is SO much better than the cab experience in New Orleans, and this is a cab oriented city.
The price is easily half of what a cab is...and I too would be much less likely to drive myself when out drinking and have to get home....and just take and Uber that is really very cheap. Let's see...a $30+ cab ride across town or a $16 cab ride across town. Double those for coming back (and you don't have to tip with Uber on top of the fare)...then it becomes economical and a great incentive to leave my car at home. And this is NOLA...face it, EVERY activity here involves drinking before you try to make your way home, so this is a good option.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
So do drivers in a carpool get extra insurance? We need to ban carpools.