The Cost of Convenience: Ridesharing and Traffic Fatalities

Barrios, John Manuel; Hochberg, Yael V.; Yi, Hanyi

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3271975

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Findings are diverse and include diminished rates of sexual assault [12], increases in property crimes [11], and a reemergence of bias based on ascriptive characteristics which has traditionally be absent from online transactions [19,20]. However, the largest body of work in this space has, unsurprisingly, focused on motor vehicle safety [9][10][11] and, more specifically, the effect on drunk driving [13,15].…”

Section: Research Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Uber, for example, completed its 10 billionth ride in June 2018, and ride-hailing more generally accounts for a significant share of the urban mobility market. Moreover, recent academic work has begun to assess the relationships between ride-hailing services and public health outcomes (eg, traffic fatalities [9,10], occurrence of assault [11][12][13], ambulance use [14], and rates of drunk driving [15]). In this work, we delve into the question of whether ride-hailing services affect the extent of alcohol consumption within the population (ie, prevalence) as well as the intensity of consumption (binge drinking).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ride-Hailing Services and Alcohol Consumption: Longitudinal Analysis (Preprint)

Burtch¹,

Greenwood²,

McCullough³

2019

Preprint

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BACKGROUND Alcohol consumption is associated with a wide range of adverse health consequences and a leading cause of preventable deaths. Ride-hailing services such as Uber have been found to prevent alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities. These services may, however, facilitate alcohol consumption generally and binge drinking in particular. OBJECTIVE The goal of the research is to measure the impact of ride-hailing services on the extent and intensity of alcohol consumption. We allow these associations to depend on population density as the use of ride-hailing services varies across markets. METHODS We exploit the phased rollout of the ride-hailing platform Uber using a difference-in-differences approach. We use this variation to measure changes in alcohol consumption among a local population following Uber’s entry. Data are drawn from Uber press releases to capture platform entry and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Systems (BRFSS) Annual Survey to measure alcohol consumption in 113 metropolitan areas. Models are estimated using fixed-effects Poisson regression. Pre- and postentry trends are used to validate this approach. RESULTS Ride-hailing has no association with the extent of alcohol consumption in high (0.61 [95% CI –0.05% to 1.28%]) or low (0.61 [95% CI –0.05% to 1.28%]) density markets, but is associated with increases in the binge drinking rate in high-density markets (0.71 [95% CI 0.13% to 1.29%]). This corresponds to a 4% increase in binge drinking within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. CONCLUSIONS Ride-hailing services are associated with an increase in binge drinking, which has been associated with a wide array of adverse health outcomes. Drunk driving rates have fallen for more than a decade, while binge drinking continues to climb. Both trends may be accelerated by ride-hailing services. This suggests that health information messaging should increase emphasis on the direct dangers of alcohol consumption and binge drinking.

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Section: Research Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ride-Hailing Services and Alcohol Consumption: Longitudinal Analysis (Preprint)

Burtch¹,

Greenwood²,

McCullough³

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Uber, for example, completed its 10 billionth ride in June 2018, and ride-hailing more generally accounts for a significant share of the urban mobility market. Moreover, recent academic work has begun to assess the relationships between ride-hailing services and public health outcomes (eg, traffic fatalities [ 9 , 10 ], occurrence of assault [ 11 - 13 ], ambulance use [ 14 ], and rates of drunk driving [ 15 ]). In this work, we delve into the question of whether ride-hailing services affect the extent of alcohol consumption within the population (ie, prevalence) as well as the intensity of consumption (binge drinking).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Findings are diverse and include diminished rates of sexual assault [ 12 ], increases in property crimes [ 11 ], and a reemergence of bias based on ascriptive characteristics which has traditionally be absent from online transactions [ 19 , 20 ]. However, the largest body of work in this space has, unsurprisingly, focused on motor vehicle safety [ 9 - 11 ] and, more specifically, the effect on drunk driving [ 13 , 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ride-Hailing Services and Alcohol Consumption: Longitudinal Analysis

2021

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Background Alcohol consumption is associated with a wide range of adverse health consequences and a leading cause of preventable deaths. Ride-hailing services such as Uber have been found to prevent alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities. These services may, however, facilitate alcohol consumption generally and binge drinking in particular. Objective The goal of the research is to measure the impact of ride-hailing services on the extent and intensity of alcohol consumption. We allow these associations to depend on population density as the use of ride-hailing services varies across markets. Methods We exploit the phased rollout of the ride-hailing platform Uber using a difference-in-differences approach. We use this variation to measure changes in alcohol consumption among a local population following Uber’s entry. Data are drawn from Uber press releases to capture platform entry and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Systems (BRFSS) Annual Survey to measure alcohol consumption in 113 metropolitan areas. Models are estimated using fixed-effects Poisson regression. Pre- and postentry trends are used to validate this approach. Results Ride-hailing has no association with the extent of alcohol consumption in high (0.61 [95% CI –0.05% to 1.28%]) or low (0.61 [95% CI –0.05% to 1.28%]) density markets, but is associated with increases in the binge drinking rate in high-density markets (0.71 [95% CI 0.13% to 1.29%]). This corresponds to a 4% increase in binge drinking within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. Conclusions Ride-hailing services are associated with an increase in binge drinking, which has been associated with a wide array of adverse health outcomes. Drunk driving rates have fallen for more than a decade, while binge drinking continues to climb. Both trends may be accelerated by ride-hailing services. This suggests that health information messaging should increase emphasis on the direct dangers of alcohol consumption and binge drinking.

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“…Previous studies have failed to capture data from nonfatal incidents. [10][11][12][13] Unfortunately, contradictory evidence exists, in that some studies indicate that rideshares lead to an increase in MVCs, [12][13][14][15] while others report a negative association. 4,10,[16][17][18][19] Inconclusive results in previous analyses are likely secondary to temporal granularity on the order of months, thereby lacking the detail to control daily fluctuations in rideshare use, diurnal traffic patterns, and frequency of convictions for impaired driving.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of Rideshare Use With Alcohol-Associated Motor Vehicle Crash Trauma

et al. 2021

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IMPORTANCE Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are an important public health concern. Recent trends suggest that introducing rideshare services has decreased the incidence of MVCs. However, detailed analyses linking rideshare volume, convictions for impaired driving, and nonfatal MVC traumas remain inconclusive.OBJECTIVE To determine if there is an association between rideshare use and MVC traumas and convictions for impaired driving in Houston, Texas. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis multicenter cohort study was conducted between January 2007 and November 2019 with hospital data from the Red Duke Trauma Institute within the Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center and Ben Taub General Hospital. Rideshare data from Uber and Google covered trips taken within Houston, Texas, from February 2014 (the date of deployment of Uber to Houston) to December 2018. Impaired driving convictions included all indictments made by the Harris County, Texas, District Attorney's office from January 2007 to December 2018. All adults with MVC traumas evaluated at both centers in the study population (individuals >16 years with a mechanism of injury classified under "motor vehicle collision") were included. Impaired driving incidents were included only if the final legal outcome was conviction. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe primary study outcomes were the incident rate ratios for hourly MVC traumas and daily impaired driving convictions. RESULTS A total of 23 491 MVC traumas (involving patients with a mean [SD] age of 37.9 [17.8] years and 14 603 male individuals [62.1%]), 93 742 impaired driving convictions, and more than 24 million Uber rides were analyzed. Following the introduction of Uber in February 2014, MVC traumas decreased by 23.8% (from a mean [SD] of 0.26 [0.04] to 0.21 [0.06] trauma incidents per hour) during peak trauma periods (Friday and Saturday nights).The incident rate ratio of MVC traumas following Uber deployment was 0.33 (95% CI, 0.17-0.67) per 1000 indexed rides (P = .002). Furthermore, rideshare use was associated with a significant, geographically linked reduction in impaired driving convictions between January 2014 to December 2019 (incidence rate ratio, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.73-0.78]; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEIn this study, introducing rideshare services in the Houston metropolitan area was associated with significant reductions in MVC traumas and impaired driving convictions. Increased use of rideshares may be an effective means of reducing impaired driving and decreasing rate of MVC traumas.

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The Cost of Convenience: Ridesharing and Traffic Fatalities

Cited by 12 publications

References 9 publications

Ride-Hailing Services and Alcohol Consumption: Longitudinal Analysis (Preprint)

Ride-Hailing Services and Alcohol Consumption: Longitudinal Analysis (Preprint)

Ride-Hailing Services and Alcohol Consumption: Longitudinal Analysis

Association of Rideshare Use With Alcohol-Associated Motor Vehicle Crash Trauma

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