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Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

economist.com

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Re: Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

#281

Post by nommm-nommm »

manarth wrote: post #129
kneel wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It has always amazed me how casually people drink and drive in some countries; the US especially springs to mind. Drinking and driving is still very taboo in the US. It's just that most areas of the country require an automobile to get around and most people have a car. One more thing, no one should be surprised that people drink and drive anywhere. People make all sorts of terrible decisions when they're intoxicate…

> no one should be surprised that people drink and drive anywhere. > People make all sorts of terrible decisions when they're intoxicated Many people make a Ulysses pact: if they're going out drinking, they make the decision whilst sober to leave the car at home, removing any temptation to use it to get home later when they're drunk.

>Ulysses pact

I knew a guy in college who often got totally hammered when he went out. He would always give his bus money home to one of his companions he was out with to hold onto so that he wouldn't accidentally spend it or lose it.

Re: Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

#282

Post by seanmcdirmid »

wapz wrote: post #110
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't that, the cab rides are never just $20, and often there are no cabs at all. The USA just has crappy non car transportation options. And it isn't just an hour walk in many places, but a few hours walk on dark streets with no side walks. When I was living in the Deep South, I sometimes had to take people home 20+ miles out in the middle of nowhere.

> 20+ miles out in the middle of nowhere That's the reason there are no cabs and I don't blame cab drivers. They don't get paid to sit around 40 minutes to find a passenger. I'm surprised that finding an uber in one of those places is not difficult either. Outside of the US, a lot of the population is very condensed (well the US is to some degree) making cabs and public transportation much more efficient/effective IM…

I lived in Beijing for 9 years and never had to worry about a DUI since I didn't even own a car. Some bad nights (no taxis available) I walked home for an hour or so, no big deal.

Population densities in the US suck, and everything is oriented around personal cars. Totally different things.

Re: Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

#283

Post by amyjess »

alkonaut wrote: post #193
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't that, the cab rides are never just $20, and often there are no cabs at all. The USA just has crappy non car transportation options. And it isn't just an hour walk in many places, but a few hours walk on dark streets with no side walks. When I was living in the Deep South, I sometimes had to take people home 20+ miles out in the middle of nowhere.

Maybe the fact that there are no buses and cabs at night is because people are driving home from bars anyway? Here's the thing: it's not that we have great transportation, what we don't have is bars and restaurants pop up in some random spot next to a road, with a big parking lot in front. If you build a restaurant like that, you kind of already made clear that it's a restaurant for people in cars.

Most bars in the suburban US don't stand alone; they tend to be accompanied by other restaurants and strip centers. I'll post a few Street View links for the northern suburbs of Dallas:

https://goo.gl/maps/AfQX2VDpYaA2 - The Draft House, Far North Dallas. Note the strip center that contains, among others, a sushi/Thai food place, a pizzeria, and a food mart. (as a side note: I used to go to the Draft House regularly but stopped after management changes ran it into the ground)

https://goo.gl/maps/bmSsv6ZgGyQ2 - The Irishman, Far North Dallas. If you're not careful, you might not even notice it among all the other places there.

https://goo.gl/maps/mGFCmq669xP2 - Katy Trail Ice House Outpost, Plano. This is a huge, huge shopping center.

https://goo.gl/maps/kEdHh41QAJF2 - Lonestar Grill and Sports Cafe, Richardson. In the middle of a strip center with a freestanding Dickey's. If you don't see it, look waaaay in the back, just to the right of the Dickey's.

https://goo.gl/maps/Fy946RDP6Ly - The Hub & Ron's Place, Addison. Next to a UPS store and a whole bunch of other shops. The two bars are connected; the logo for Ron's Place is an R inside a square.

Re: Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

#284

Post by garethsprice »

brainflake wrote: post #42
ardit33 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitter/hating much? I know Uber is not liked, but the fact that they have done a great job at disturbing the market in a great way. (Lyft as well, but they are still a minority player) Having have to deal with NYC cabs often, when they will lock the doors and ask where you are going before letting you in, Uber is a great improvement overall. Also, a NYC taxi medallion would cost 500k to almost 750k (that's like a mor…

Have you really had that experience in NYC? I've lived in Brooklyn for 10 years and have only once had a cab refuse to drive me home.

Try getting a cab in Manhattan at peak times, or during shift change (6pm-ish?). Technically they have to take you by law but even if you get in and refuse to move they will sit there until you are forced to get out.

It got to the point I was getting turned down more than accepted for rides from Manhattan to Brooklyn so now I just use ride share by default.

(For reference, I'm white so it's not a problem of being a minority. I do live pretty deep in Brooklyn in a "bad" neighborhood though - maybe getting a ride to Williamsburg etc is easier)

Re: Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

#285

Post by rugffgbv »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #268
rugffgbv wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Heck, drunk cycling is only slightly better than drunk driving because you're less likely to run someone over (but might still cause an accident when a driver has to do something dangerous to avoid you). Drunk cyclists killed 1 person between 2007-2011 in Poland. Drunk pedestrians killed 3 persons. http://ibikekrakow.com/2012/03/28/ile-osob-zabili-pijani-row... Drunk drivers killed hundreds. 50% of people caught for…

It's not about being able to balance on a bike, it's about reaction time, coordination, and judgement.

In some way it's self-correcting, drunk cyclist can't ride fast. If he's super drunk, he becomes more of a pedestrian than cyclist. I agree it's not the best argument.

I like numbers, and numbers say drunk bicyclists are not a problem.

Drunk cyclist is hundreds times less danger than drunk driver, and should get hundreds times less punishment.

Re: Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

#286

Post by zenogais »

skrebbel wrote: post #123
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't that, the cab rides are never just $20, and often there are no cabs at all. The USA just has crappy non car transportation options. And it isn't just an hour walk in many places, but a few hours walk on dark streets with no side walks. When I was living in the Deep South, I sometimes had to take people home 20+ miles out in the middle of nowhere.

Makes sense, but if you know that your only way back home is your car and you still pop the cork, you're acting like a bad person in my book ("hitting a child" level indeed).

That's fine, but you're not going to change social mores overnight (perhaps ever). The fact that ride sharing apps are helping is a huge plus in my book.

Re: Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

#287

Post by garethsprice »

dx034 wrote: post #237
culturalzero wrote: post #223

My instinct is that Uber fed this story to the Economist to try and counter their recently bad PR

My instinct is that this is wrong. Probably rather hard to bribe the economist.

Timely media coverage isn't necessarily the result of bribes.

The survey was done in January and is now being published in April. A savvy PR agent doing crisis management would be combing Uber's research archives looking for things they could spin into positive press releases.

The press is always hungry for content, and it's not too hard to write something that appeals to a particular publication - no bribes involved.

Re: Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

#288

Post by MrFantastic »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #254
MrFantastic wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't drive drunk, it's not worth the risk; BUT millions of people drive drunk every day and 99.999% get home safely so in their minds it seems safe enough. It's not as if the instant your BAC goes over .08 you are driving like bumper cars.

I disagree with that number. You're saying that 1 in 100,000 people don't get home safely while drink driving. That's 10 times lower than the yearly death rate from simply driving. And 1/3 road deaths are caused by drink driving.

My number is wrong, I just made it up. I think that actually number is more like 99.95% for a person with a .08.

My point is that if you didn't care about moral hazard, the odds are overwhelming that you will make it home safe even if you drive drunk.

I'm not condoning, just explaining drunk driving logic.

That 1/3 road deaths is artificially inflated because if you had 1 drink and well under the legal limit it still counts as alcohol related fatality.

Re: Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

#289

Post by LoonyBalloony »

If society really cared about drunk driving, there would be a free bus outside of every bar at bar close. We can do it for kids going to school, we can do it for adults going home.

But they don't care, they just want the money and power (unconstitutional DUI check points) involved in the DUI process.

Re: Ride-hailing apps may help to curb drunk driving

#290

Post by weavie »

jhpaul wrote: post #65

Based on personal experiences this isn't surprising. When I was in college in a small town in the late 00's, many friends and acquaintances would drive across town after heavy drinking. 10-15 minutes, straight roads, little traffic. Other than not going out, or not getting home, you didn't have many options. It was a hour long walk or a $20-40 cab ride, if you could get one. I was recently back in town for a wedding…

I remember in South Africa talking to a gentleman who was obviously quite inebriated about how he was going to get home. His response "I just put my head down, press the accelerator and get home as quickly as possible." I was horrified!
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