Citation

Morrison CN, Jacoby SF, Dong B, Delgado MK, Wiebe DJ. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2018; 187(2): 224-232.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/aje/kwx233

PMID

28633356

Abstract

Uber, the world's largest ridesharing company, has reportedly provided over two billion journeys globally since operations began in 2010; however, the impact on motor vehicle crashes is unclear. Theoretically, ridesharing could reduce alcohol-involved crashes in locations where other modes of transportation are less attractive than driving one's own vehicle while alcohol-affected. We conducted interrupted time series analyses using weekly counts of injury crashes and the proportion that were alcohol-involved in four US cities (Las Vegas, NV; Portland, OR; Reno, NV; San Antonio, TX). We considered that a resumption of Uber operations after a temporary break would produce a more substantial change in ridership than an initial launch, so we selected cities where Uber launched, ceased, and then resumed operations (2013-2016). We hypothesized that Uber's resumption would be associated with fewer alcohol-involved crashes.

RESULTS partially supported this hypothesis. For example, in Portland, Uber's resumption was associated with a 61.8% reduction (95% confidence interval = 38.7%, 86.4%) in the alcohol-involved crash rate (an absolute decrease of 3.1 [95% confidence interval = 1.7, 4.4] alcohol-involved crashes per week); however there was no concomitant change in all injury crashes. Relationships between ridesharing and motor vehicle crashes differ between cities over time, and may depend on specific local characteristics.

© The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Language: en

Keywords

accidents, traffic; alcohol drinking; interrupted time series analysis; motor vehicles; transportation