Miami Accident Lawyer Blog
Our Miami personal injury law firm found a very interesting report that was recently released. The study’s outcome was to determine whether ride-sharing services, such as Uber, have contributed to a decrease in accidents related to driving under the influence over a certain period of time. The implication here being that as people that may be too intoxicated to drive and then call sober ride-share drivers for their ride home, there are less drunk drivers on the road causing accidents. However, apparently the results of this study found that this was not necessarily the case in all American cities.
The study looked at the availability of the ride share service Uber (currently the largest among ride-sharing companies, which purportedly also include: Lyft, Sidecar, Wingz, Summon, Taxify, Haxi, Didi Chuxing, and Moovn) from 2013-2016 in four major cities in the United States. The study author is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Injury Science Center.
Interestingly, the study found that while alcohol related accidents were reduced by more than half in one of the cities for which data was examined, alcohol related car accidents were not reduced at all in another. Additionally, and further surprisingly, the author of the study stated that even where there was a decrease in the number of alcohol related accidents, there was no reduction in total car crashes overall. It is unclear why this is the case, but it is interesting to consider the effect that these ride-sharing services have on traffic patterns and traffic in general in Miami and other major cities.
It is also worth considering that while Uber may have contributed to a decrease in alcohol related accidents, car accidents did not decrease in certain markets, which implies that Uber drivers may have been involved in some of the accidents that filled the gaps of less Americans driving themselves. It probably does not help that many, if not all, of these ride-sharing services rely on apps and other smartphone based technology that quite literally require the drivers to fiddle with their phones while driving.
Car accidents remain the primary cause of death for people from the ages of 13 to 25 in the United States. In background notes for the study, the researches wrote that in the year of 2015 approximately one third of crashes resulting in fatality were attributed to the use of alcohol. In that same year roughly 6.3 million car accidents happened on roadways across America, injuring more than 2.4 million and killing more than 35,000.
If you or a loved one were seriously injured in an Uber accident in Miami or another part of South Florida, don’t wait. Our personal injury law firm can help. Despite the lack of local and state regulatory compliance, At Gerson & Schwartz, PA, our Miami Uber car accident lawyers know how to use the lack of regulatory compliance and oversight to hold ride-sharing drivers accountable for the serious harms they cause. Contact us today in order to discuss your case. We can be reached through this website or by calling (877) 475-2905.
Related Posts:
Scary Collision and Acceleration into a Miami Crowd Leaves Driver Dead, Miami Injury Lawyer Blog, published October 11, 2017
Florida State Rep Wants to Toughen State Texting Law, Miami Injury Lawyer Blog, published August 21, 2017