Ridehailing and alcohol-involved traffic fatalities in the United States: The average and heterogeneous association of uber

Abstract

Ridehailing services such as Uber have been promoted as viable interventions for curbing alcohol-involved driving fatalities. However, evidence of ridehailing's impact has been mixed, with some studies finding no association but others finding either an increase or a decrease in fatalities. We contribute to this literature by examining more recent years of data, which capture a period during which Uber ridership has grown substantially and alcohol-involved fatalities have increased. Furthermore, we test whether the relationship between Uber availability and traffic fatalities depends on local characteristics. We employ multivariate regression models to test the association between Uber availability and total, alcohol-involved, and weekend and holiday-specific traffic fatalities in the 100 most populated metropolitan areas in the United States between 2009 and 2017. We find that Uber availability is not associated with changes in total, alcohol-involved, and weekend and holiday-specific traffic fatalities in aggregate, yet it is associated with increased traffic fatalities in urban, densely populated counties.

Air Pollution, Greenhouse Gas, and Traffic Externality Benefits and Costs of Shifting Private Vehicle Travel to Ridesourcing Services

“…Adding a marginal-mile external cost multiplier (from a uniform distribution from 0 to 60%) increases our primary finding of a change in the expected net external costs by 27% (from +$0.35/trip to +$0.44/trip). Additionally, it is unknown whether crash externalities of TNC vehicles per distance traveled are lower than, higher than, or comparable to those of private vehicles, as findings in the existing literature are ambivalent: different studies conclude that motor vehicle fatalities declined after the introduction of UberX, that Uber has an insignificant effect on drunk driving, and that, while Uber is not associated with changes in alcohol-involved or overall traffic fatalities in aggregate, it is associated with increased traffic fatalities in urban, densely populated counties . In a case where the TNC trip external crash risk costs are cut in half, consistent with the reduced traffic fatality rate reported in Uber’s 2017–2018 Safety Report, we still find a net increase in the total external costs, on average, in almost all cases.…”

Uber use after alcohol consumption among car/motorcycle drivers in ten Brazilian capitals

“…Data from the survey showed that the Uber system was the most used means of transport to replace driving after drinking alcohol, ranging from 55% to 59%. Factors such as low cost, convenience, simple payment method, accessibility, and security may explain this preference 13 , 18 , 23 , 37 . According to Martin-Buck 18 , e-hailing services have led to a 10% to 11.4% reduction in alcohol-related fatal car accidents.…”

Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Preventive Health Monitoring

“…Aside from the pre-mentioned indicator for liver cirrhosis, alcohol-related transportation accidents represent a significant public safety issue. In the United States, alcohol is a contributing factor in more than 30% of all traffic fatalities [ 102 ]. Wen et al [ 103 ] devised a self-powered ethanol sensor using a blow-driven triboelectric nanogenerator (BD-TENG).…”