Distracted Driving and the Risks of Ride-Hailing Services Like Uber | Hacker News Reader

Distracted Driving and the Risks of Ride-Hailing Services Like Uber

bits.blogs.nytimes.com

31 pointsojbyrne13 comments

Just my experience but I spoke with a couple of Uber drivers in NYC and almost all were former taxi drivers that claimed Uber was safer. In a cab they'd always be on the lookout for passengers to pickup versus only having to click an area on a phone.

Most cab drivers outside of NYC have been using information terminals for years. If you've ridden in a cab, you've probably seen one. They have pretty much a full-size keyboard as well as a 3-4 line display that shows cryptic commands in some sort of shorthand.

Compared to this, mashing a button on the Uber app seems like a piece of cake.

"Two lawsuits, one filed against Uber and another against Lyft, contend the services are negligent by violating California’s law against driver use of hand-held electronic devices."

Using a handheld mobile device while driving is also a violation of NY State law unless the device "is affixed to a vehicle surface".[1]

[1] http://www.safeny.ny.gov/phon-ndx.htm

Easy solution then, buy a mount, stick it to the dash like a GPS.

Yeah, which is what every Uber i've been in does as well..

Every single Uber I've ever ridden in has the phone running the Uber driver app mounted either on the dash or in a cupholder mount.

Most of the Uber cars I have ridden in have a phone mounted on the dash or windshield, but they also have at least one other phone loose and active in the car.

Extremely small anecdote, but the one time I visited Manhattan (August 2014), on the taxi ride to and from the airport, both of the taxi drivers had a cell phone on the sitting on the dash (not docked, or connected to the vehicle) and were actively using it. On the trip back to the airport, the driver was actually actively watching sports game.

Butbutbut... a driver who CAN accept a ride request is by definition a driver who is at liberty, not carrying a fare. So said driver should not be actively driving. Driving without a fare is a waste of gas and vehicle wear. Unless your last fare left you positioned so far in the boonies that ride requests are scarce, and you need to reposition -- in which case you don't EXPECT a usable request -- or unless you want to go find a cuppa, or a bathroom, before your next drive -- in which case you don't WANT to respond to a request just now.

Bottom line, the driver who CAN accept a ride is highly likely to be parked, not driving. Having to make that 15-second decision while driving has got to be the exception, not the rule.

In a dense city like SF/Manhattan you may need to constantly circle vs. being able to pull over and wait.

However, this leads to an interesting idea: prioritize new fares to drivers whose GPS says they are moving < 10mph.

Note to startups: you really don't want to pick a battle with newspaper reporters.

This would be a moot point if someone released something like the connected bike grips but for hands-free navigation by any mode of transportation.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8781407

What if they were just vibrating wrist bands or gloves?

Voice commands would be a lot simpler, and familiar to many ex-taxi drivers.

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