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Alcohol-Related Car Accidents Declined In New York After Introduction of Uber, Analysis Finds (economist.com)
According to a new paper from Jessica Lynn Peck of the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, ride-hailing services may have helped reduce alcohol-related traffic accidents by 25-30% in New York City. The report specifically focuses on Uber, which was first introduced in the city in May 2011, and looks at how the ride-hailing service has impacted New York City. The Economist notes in its report that Uber is "largely banned outside of New York City." From the report: To control for factors unrelated to Uber's launch such as adverse weather conditions, Ms Peck compares accident rates in each of New York's five boroughs to those in the counties where Uber was not present, picking those that had the most similar population density and pre-2011 drunk-driving rate. The four boroughs which were quick to adopt Uber -- Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx--
all saw decreases in alcohol-related car crashes relative to their controls. By contrast, Staten Island, where Uber caught on more slowly, saw no such decrease.
Then all those cars on the roads are from where exactly?
That aside, give people an even easier way not to drive, especially when drunk, and surprise, drunk driving goes down.
Whodathunkit?
It's possible the app itself makes it easier to hail a cab instead. Instead of calling, they just use an app and they don't need to use cash.
Pairing the app with taxis could have the same result.
It would be interesting to see how stoned drivers perform on a racetrack with very safe vehicles of course...
As interesting as this is.
I think your initial premise is wrong. People switching from alcohol to marijuana is not the cause of this slowdown in drunk driving.
In my area for instance, which is a suburb outside of San Francisco, a bartender told me that taxis were too difficult to get ten years ago, that's why many of his customers didn't use them. He'd call one for a patron, and it wouldn't even show up. And when he'd get off work, he'd call a taxi for himself and the operator would tell him that it was going to take 45 minutes to get there to pick him up.
Now it just takes 2 to 10 minutes to get an Uber/Lyft. That's the crucial difference because the number of people leaving his establishment drunk hasn't really changed in the past ten years.
And no, you don't have to believe me, I am an Uber driver so I could be very biased. And if you live an Uber/Lyft rich area, I only ask that you ask longtime bartenders to see what they can tell you about this question. I suspect that they'll tell you the same thing that the bartender I met said.