(Sponsored Content) – A new study reveals strong evidence to suggest that the increased adoption of ride-hailing services has done a lot to benefit consumer safety.
A first-of-its-kind study, conducted by the University of Texas Health Science Center, shows that on Friday and Saturday nights in Houston, motor vehicle crash-related traumas have decreased by 24%. For drivers under the age of 30, those who are most likely to book ride-hailing services, there was a 40% decrease in motor vehicle crash traumas. The study also found that convictions related to such accidents also decreased, at least in Harris County, which provided its data for review.
In September, Anheuser-Busch, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Uber launched the campaign "Decide to Ride," which is aimed at helping to prevent and end drunken driving. Uber offers discounts to impaired drivers looking for a ride home.
Preventing impaired driving is perhaps the biggest contribution to public safety that ride-hailing services have been able to provide.
Julius Moldvan, a part-time driver for Uber, talked about that aspect of ride-hailing services,
"I'd rather not see someone get a DUI or DWI ... car services have been around for 30-plus years, so it's not something of a new idea," Moldvan said. "You know, before in the '80s and '90s you'd have to pick up the phone to call a car service. Now you get car service on your cell phone so it has advanced. So, it's not a new idea, it just took the core service idea to the next level."
According to the CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, between 1993-2014, more than 1 million people were arrested for driving while impaired by alcohol and 111 million drivers self-reported having episodes of alcohol-impaired driving.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that everyday, approximately 28 people die in the U.S. due to drunken driving. And despite that number having reached its lowest percentage in 2019 since 1982, more than 10,000 people lost their lives to drunken driving in 2019.