When Uber partnered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving last year, the ride-sharing company made a promise: No excuse for drunk driving will stand.
For the most part, Uber has made good on that promise. Drunk driving accidents have statistically decreased in several cities. In New York City, for example, there’s been a 25% to 35% reduction in alcohol-related accidents since Uber first appeared in 2011. That’s about 40 fewer collisions per month in the city.
And in California, the entry of Uber services was correlated with a significant drop in the rate of motor vehicle homicides, according to a 2015 report by Temple University.
But the accessibility and ease of ride-sharing apps such as Uber and Lyft may have contributed to another long-standing problem: binge drinking. Uber is associated with a 3.1% increase in the average number of drinks consumed per day, according to a new study by the University of Louisville.
This kind of heavy alcohol consumption has become such a problem for Uber drivers, the company filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office back in 2016 to create an artificial intelligence-related tool that would allow drivers to detect riders that are in an unusual, intoxicated “state.” This tool would then allow the app to pair drunk passengers with “experienced” drivers that are “trained” to handle them, or it wouldn’t pair them at all. As of yet, this tool still doesn’t exist.
This tool could be bad news for rural areas with weaker public transit options, where instances of binge drinking have increased up to 21.8% over the past few years, according to data collected by the University of Louisville.
Thanks to Uber, the roads are safer, and many passengers have chosen to be more responsible. But recent numbers prove that even great solutions can lead to new problems.
