Study Links Uber and Lyft to Increase in U.S. Traffic Deaths

There's an interesting link to an analysis an (unaffiliated?) economist that suggests the study's methodology is flawed, in that it doesn't properly account for the simultaneous drop in gasoline prices (known to increase driving and therefore traffic deaths) as well as being unable to explain rises in death rates in both urban and rural areas (because Uber/Lyft are primarily urban)

http://cityobservatory.org/unsafe-uber-lethal-lyft-were-skep...

In my state, the phenomenon of attempting to drive while looking at and manipulating one's phone is absolutely epidemic. When a light turns green, the cars in front often don't move and the cars behind them often don't honk because they're engaged with their smartphones too. It's particularly disturbing when you're on a 50mph road with one lane in each direction and you pass a car by a few feet going the other way at a closing speed of 100mph and all you see is the other driver's eyelids and the top of their head.

The article mentions a 3% increase in deaths since 2011 despite cars getting safer, but 2011 correlates to the start of the total ubiquity of the smartphone as well.

On the other hand, I've had some very sketchy Uber/Lyft rides involving extremely late lane changes, almost missing turns/offramps and trying to dive in at the last second. The combination of often younger people who might end up driving for Uber/Lyft, often driving unfamiliar routes, relying on the instructions provided by a phone attached four feet away, while engaged in a conversation with passengers, is probably generally not as safe as you driving yourself along a familiar route.

But it would be quite a feat of analysis if anybody were able to disentangle the effect of Uber/Lyft from other changes since 2011.

I've had a lot of conversations with drivers that make me cringe. I've had a few tell me about how they've been away from home driving for 24-48 hours, sleeping in the car for a few hours at a time here and there. This article doesn't seem to mention this as a factor but I wouldn't be surprised if Uber/Lyft driver fatigue explains part of this study's findings.

My understanding is that the taxi medallion system originally came to be because there was too much competition in the taxi business, leading to corners being cut (e.g. maintenance) and overcrowding by taxis in certain places. Maybe we're learning this lesson again? This level of competition has brought a lot of convenience and comfort improvements over taxis. But from a big picture point of view, I'm not sure that this level of competition is a good thing. I almost wish Uber/Lyft were more expensive (and that money went to drivers). I'd use them less, but I'd be happier about using it when I did.

This can’t be a surprise to anyone. I frequently have a driver who is obviously different than the one pictured in the app. Some of the drivers I get have been in the country for a matter of weeks or even days, leaving me to wonder how Lyft or Uber verified their ability to drive to sufficient standards—I’m guessing they do virtually nothing beyond confirming the name matches a valid driver’s license.

Talk about an industry that needs regulation!

I no longer use Uber or Lyft because I’ve had more rides with drivers who I would consider to be a “dangerous driver” than those I consider safe.

Many times the driver is in too big a rush to get their next fare, and they drive erratically and over the speed limit whilst using their phone. I even had a driver whose breath smelt like he’d been drinking. I just don’t feel safe, and I don’t think these companies regulate or check how safe their drivers are driving. I wonder whether there could be something in their driver app that monitors the speed or safety of the driver when they have a passenger in the car. I know that some insurance companies have apps like these.

Add to this Uber Eats and Deliveroo. Here in London they are very popular, and most drivers use mopeds, which require very little training to get a license. I regularly see them driving through red lights, speeding, driving dangerously in general, and parking where they shouldn't.

Uber and Lyft definitely put more shitty drivers out on the road constantly cruising looking to pickup or drop off their riders in most not suitable places with 0 regards to traffic, especially in NYC and suburbs. Uber and Lyft pays so little that most of their drivers are definitely not qualified to drive professionally but are doing it because they can't get any other job. I forgot to mention that these drivers work for multiple ride-sharing companies (at least 2 but sometimes up to 4 in NYC) and have multiple smartphones docked to their dashboard constantly distracting them.

I would like to know how they eliminated confounding. Was there an increase in other risky behaviors at the same time, like texting while driving? How many of the deaths caused by accidents involved Uber or Lyft drivers? Maybe it's click-baity.

Interesting how the Lyft spokesperson doesnt directly address the study’s claims.

Instead they make other, unrelated claims about drunk driving safety increases.

VMT = Vehicle Miles Traveled

The article makes extensive use of this acronym without defining it.

Anecdotally, as a cyclist, it sure feels like Uber drivers are trying to kill me!

Shouldn't it be easy to see how many fatal accidents there were during rides? Isn't there some kind of tracking of this by Lyft and Uber?

There’s also been an increase in smart phone use during the same period. I cringe at the number of drivers I see that are fully engaged in their phones while driving. It’s too bad that distracted driving has virtually cancelled out any gains in safety that modern technology has provided (auto breaking, blind spot assist, etc,) during the same time period.

Unsurprising as we know that Lyft and Uber increase the amount of cars on the road, and cars are dangerous and drivers kill people all the time.

We've known this for a century and yet we still do nothing about it.

The only way to make our cities safer is to reduce the amount of cars on the road by limiting road expansion and creating transportation alternatives to the car.

I wonder how many ridesharing deaths are related passengers not wearing seatbelts. I certainly didn't wear seatbelts when I first got in Lyft and Uber rides. I think was that because I never got into the habit of wearing seatbelts in taxis for some reason.

The world is a big complicated place and it seems to me very hard to lay a small shift in that metric on a specific companies doorstep. It's one of those extrordinary claims / extrordinary proof things, and as such I find it unproven.

When I'm crossing a street and a car flies through the intersection nearly hitting me, it's usually an Uber driver. Were taxi drivers so desperate to speed through cities and reach their next fare as quickly as possible?