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Austin Is Conducting Sting Operations Against Ride-Sharing Drivers (examiner.com)
Since the Uber and Lyft ride-sharing apps stopped service in Austin, drunk driving has increased, riders are hunting for alternatives, and the police are conducting undercover sting operations against unauthorized ride-sharing drivers. With Chicago also considering new restrictions on ride-sharing apps, Slashdot reader MarkWhittington shares this report from Austin:
With thousands of drivers and tens of thousands of riders who once depended on ride-sharing services in a lurch, a group called Arcade City has tried to fill the void with a person-to-person site to link up drivers and riders who then negotiate a fare. Of course, according to a story on KVUE, the Austin city government, and the police are on the case. The Austin Police Department has diverted detectives and resources to conduct sting operations on ride-sharing drivers who attempt to operate without official sanction. Undercover operatives will arrange for a ride with an Arcade City driver and then bust them, impounding their vehicle and imposing a fine.
"The first Friday and Saturday after Uber was gone, we were joking that it was like the zombie apocalypse of drunk people," one former ride-sharing driver told Vocative.com. Earlier this month the site compared this year's drunk driving arrests to last years -- and discovered that in the three weeks since Uber and Lyft left Austin, 7.5% more people have been arrested for drunk driving.
"The first Friday and Saturday after Uber was gone, we were joking that it was like the zombie apocalypse of drunk people," one former ride-sharing driver told Vocative.com. Earlier this month the site compared this year's drunk driving arrests to last years -- and discovered that in the three weeks since Uber and Lyft left Austin, 7.5% more people have been arrested for drunk driving.
"Earlier this month the site compared this year's drunk driving arrests to last years -- and discovered that in the three weeks since Uber and Lyft left Austin, 7.5% more people have been arrested for drunk driving."
Other than catering to lobbyists for cash, there's nothing that govts enjoy more than "incidental" revenue. Literal "public safety" is somewhere near the bottom of the list, somewhere after "leaving things in better shape for my successor".
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
It's nothing to joke about. And trying to blame a lack of taxis for commiting a crime is really pathetic.
Uber and Lyft left Austin because the VOTERS decided in a referendum to demand that they do ground checks based on fingerprints. Uber and Lyft said that what they had was good enough. Lyft and Uber lost badly and they so they left. So, to be clear for you my astroturfing friend, most people VOTED AGAINST LYFT and UBER.
I think it's fair to say that most people (over 50%) have never taken Uber or Lyft and were just going by the horror stories they heard on the news. Also, those people voted for more regulations, from a consumer's point of view, more regulations on others can't be that bad. Nobody likes to be regulated, but everyone is willing to regulate others.
That being said, the suggested regulation went above and beyond requiring fingerprinting the ten fingers and doing an FBI background check (which is what the UberBlack drivers are already doing as a requirement for UberBlack, and not UberX). The new regulation extends to having special lanes for taxis and buses where ridesharing cars are specifically excluded. Personally, I understand why Uber and Lyft pulled out. The fingerprinting for all its drivers is one annoyance, but having lanes designated for taxis only in a city where the taxi lobby is strong, would have been a slow way to boil the frog (or in this case, a slow way to boil Uber and Lyft).
There are a couple of problems with relying on jury nullification:
1) The average person doesn't know it's an option, and most judges won't let anyone tell them during the case.
2) One of the key purposes of the modern American jury selection process is to filter out anyone who might think for themselves.
Build and fund a proper public transportation system.
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if incidents of drunk driving go down, do you realise how many --
court clerks ... naw, fuck the lawyers
paramedics
fire fighters
lawyers
judges
undertakers
"piece" officers
hospital janitors
nurses
accounting clerks
doctors
tow truck drivers
insurance adjusters
.
.
.
could be sh_t out of a job?
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
First, I am violently against the idiotic regulations passed by our city council that pushed Uber and Lyft our. But that does not justify bullshit statistics. This 7.5% increase stat is repeated by everyone and its total
It compares number of absolute arrests to same period last year. It does not account for increased population in a rapidly growing area. It does not consider APD force size. It does not consider APD enforcement priorities. It does not consider APD coverage densities downtown vs elsewhere. I could go on.
Enough already. There are plenty of actual facts and actual logic to show how stupid the TNC licensure measures are. We don't need to make shit up and rely on the fact that 90% of Americans failed stats101.
Ever think that's because advocates of nullification are generally assholes that want to make trials to be about _them_ for egocentric reasons instead of the actual court case? Really, ranting about jury nullification is commonly associated with such far-out crap like sovereign citizens, tax denialism and other idiotic shit.
Preaching for something that exists for _extremely_ unusual circumstances for, like, every court case one doesn't like the result of is a good way to destroy this tool for the truly exceptional cases where it would be useful.
(expecting to be moderated as troll - let's see...)
I would say that nowadays just about every case is about trampling upon the Bill of Rights which in my humble opinion is exceptional and deserves nullification. The Ballot Box has proven over and over that it doesn't work because people, by and large, have been trained in the public school system that makes them into good little sheeple.
I'm just your average asshole who's seen the destruction of and government nullification of the people's rights.
Since Colorado legalized marijuana there has been a 300% increase in hospital visits related to marijuana usage.
You don't suppose that might be because people avoided actually seeking medical care before, because they were afraid of getting into legal trouble?
From that point of view, the 300% increase would be a positive outcome.
Virtually everyone is now choosing not to call a cab where as before they were choosing to call a cab, because cabs were a necessary evil prior to Uber/Lyft. You might not be that bright (or maybe you're just a dishonest shill for Yellow Cab) but I bet you can subtract well enough to spot the implication here. ;)
Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice