Ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft are extremely popular in big cities around the country, as more and more people take advantage of the fact that you can enjoy a night out without having to worry about appointing a designated driver to miss out on the fun and stay sober for the ride. With these services, you can request a ride from your smartphone and split the cost with friends or others who are headed your way.
In addition to making it easier for people to have a good time, these services are helping to cut down on drunk driving arrests and accidents. According to a recent independent study conducted by Brad Greenwood and Sunil Wattal, two researchers at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, the number of drunk driving fatalities could be decreased by 3.6 percent to 5.6 percent, thanks to low-cost ridesharing companies. The study, “Show Me the Way to Go Home: An Empirical Investigation of Ride Sharing and Alcohol-Related Motor Vehicle Homicide,” is being presented at the annual Academy of Management meeting to discuss its impact.
In conducting their study, the researchers analyzed data from January 2009 to September 2014 in 540 towns in California. They studied the reports of fatalities caused by car accidents related to drunk driving in those towns over that time period to gauge the impact that ridesharing (which is a fairly new feature across the country) had on preventing drunk driving. Greenwood and Wattal compared the data from cities that had low-cost, on-demand ride services against cities that did not, and evaluated each city’s population, median age, number of college students and graduates, income and law enforcement reach.
Ridesharing Can Help Curb Drunk Driving Incidents
What makes ridesharing such a popular service is its affordability. A large group of people traveling a short distance might only call for an individual to chip in $10 for a ride home. In most cities, this is the cost of one drink. Ridesharing eliminates the need to pay for gas and parking and it protects users from the dangers and legal risks of driving while intoxicated. Uber, for example, typically charges 20 percent to 30 percent less than a cab company for a ride.
Driving drunk is incredibly dangerous and anyone who does it is taking a risk with his or her own life, as well as the lives of everyone else on the road. Ridesharing services cut down on this risk and offer people affordable, convenient ways to get home safely no matter where they have been.
At Levine Law, our Denver car accident lawyers represent anyone who has been injured or has lost a loved one as a result of a car accident caused by a drunk driver. For more information regarding drunk driving and Colorado’s laws and policies on personal injury claims, contact an attorney at Levine Law today.
