Ryan Ray
The ride-hailing firm Uber held a news conference Monday with two Florida officials to talk about how their services are “changing the mindset” of Floridians in terms of getting home after a night out.
Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo and Miami Gardens Sen. Oscar Braynon joined with Uber Trust and Safety Lead Amanda DeSantis, who presented research that Uber conducted showing a correlation between peak rider times – generally near the closing times of bars and late on weekends – and dangerous times for drivers.
Drunken driving crashes in Miami, for instance, generally peaked about midnight, as did Uber ridership according to the research.
DeLeo, who’s also a district director for the Florida Police Chiefs Association, said apps such as Uber are an important piece of changing the norms that govern drinking and driving.
“Services that increase access to safe and sober rides can help change the staggering statistics of alcohol-related crashes and arrests in Florida,” said DeLeo, though he conceded he had no specific data on the issue. “It’s incredibly important for us to have conversations with public entities and private companies. When we work together to better educate Floridians and provide them with safe options for transportation, as a community we stand a better chance of reducing the number of DUIs and DUI fatalities.”
Braynon concurred, and added that Uber and similar apps are especially important to consider in Florida, where public transportation options are weak or nonexistent.
“Which city in Florida has the best public transportation infrastructure?” said Braynon. “Probably Miami, and all we have is one metro rail which goes up and down U.S. 1.”
“Whether you’re here in a college town or down in South Beach, it’s very comforting to know we have a safe option to get yourself a ride home,” Braynon said of ride-hailing services, calling them “the wave of the future.”
Uber’s DeSantis said recently collected data indicated that 78 percent of people in Uber markets said their friends are less likely to drive after drinking, and that a study of data in Seattle showed a 10 percent drop in DUI arrests.
DeSantis also highlighted a public-private partnership with the small town of Evesham, New Jersey, where the city offered free rides from bars earlier this year, and pointed toward the move as a model for other cities nationwide.
