The case for ride-sharing in small cities
When a Pueblo Uber driver gets hit by a drunken driver, does that warrant these big-time apps moving into small America?
Last November, around 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday night, Mark Sutton, an active Uber driver for in Pueblo, dropped off his last rider of the night at their destination. He logged off the app, and headed home.
A few minutes later Sutton was hit by a drunken driver.
Sutton lives on Pueblo’s Northside, but gives rides all across the city and, sometimes, as far as Denver.
When he collided with the driver at Elizabeth and 28th Street, he quickly got out to check on the other driver.
“What the heck just happened?! Am I OK? Is the other vehicle going to drive off? Is the other driver OK?,” Sutton said, describing his initial racing thoughts of the incident.
The driver, under the influence of alcohol, slowly crept away in their vehicle, but eventually stopped.
Sutton’s Dodge Durango R/T, was totaled and due to his minor injuries Sutton was unable to drive with Uber for 3 weeks. Now, Sutton drives a Hyundai Santa Fe around town. “A basic Uber car,” he calls it.
The driver that caused the collision ended up with only minor injuries, but the irony is perhaps that the drunken driver hit an Uber driver — a service that could have been called after a night of drinking to get home safely, avoiding any injuries and DUI charges.
How easily it could have been for the driver to avoid the wreck is what stuck with Sutton even months after it happened.
The incident is at odds with a widely-speculated national trend that ride-sharing services decrease drunken driving. Several different studies show similar results.
A Western Carolina University study complied fatal crash and crime data on county levels between the year 2007 and 2014 and found that “Uber’s entry lowers the rate of DUIs and fatal accidents.”
City University of New York investigated the impact that entry of Uber in New York City had on drunk-driving and found a “25–35 percent decrease in the alcohol related collision rate.”
Temple University studied how Uber’s services impact the amount of alcohol related motor vehicle homicides and found a “significant drop in the rate of homicides after the introduction of Uber.”
But other studies say Uber really isn’t doing all that much to lower DUI cases.
The American Journal of Epidemiology “found that the deployment of Uber services in a given metropolitan county had no association with the number of subsequent traffic fatalities, whether measured in aggregate or specific to drunk-driving fatalities or fatalities during weekends and holidays.”
Researchers concluded that the number of “Uber drivers in a market may still be too small to have much of an influence on the 121 million incidents of drunk driving that take place each year in the United States.”
One of the factors, according to the journal, is price. Ride-sharing is only an alternate option for many drivers when the price is right.
Uber was only introduced to the Pueblo area about a year and a half ago, and the effect Uber is having on DUIs is unclear, but drunken driving cases are on the decrease.
The number of DUI arrests in Pueblo County have fallen dramatically between 2012 and 2016, at an average of about 9 percent a year. Comparing the number of DUI arrests between 2012 and 2016 alone, the drop was from 837 in 2012 to 557 in 2016, a drop total of 33.4 percent over that four year period, according to data provided by the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.
For 2017, so far between Jan. 1 and April 9, there have been 134 DUI arrests in Pueblo County. Which is 24 percent of the total DUI arrests for the area in 2016.
“We can’t say the decrease in DUI’s is due to one particular factor. Certainly the use of Ubers can contribute,” said the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office in a statement. “But also the increase in media campaigns can play a role in the decrease in DUI numbers. The Sheriff’s Office enforcement of DUIs had remained consistent over the years.”
PULP reached out to Pueblo City Cab for comment and perspective multiple times, but did not receive a reply from the company.
“I’ve had these people say to me ‘why would I not spend $8 to 10 for an Uber compared to $10,000 plus legal fees for a DUI.” — Mark Sutton, Uber driver
Sutton has been driving in Pueblo for Uber since May 2016 and drives as his close to full-time job between 35–40 hours a week and averages about 75 rides each week. The main age range he drives is broad, anywhere from 20 years old to 50 years old, he said.
While the reasons for snagging an Uber ride after a night of drinking is certainly something Sutton hears on the regular, he said he’s driving people out of town all the time, too. Mostly to grab flights at the Colorado Springs airport or to an appointment that’s out of town.
“The benefits of someone at a bar or restaurant late ordering an Uber instead of a taxi are Ubers are typically cheaper at about half the price of a taxi, so there’s an economic advantage,” he said.
“I commonly hear from clients that they prefer Uber because of the lower cost and the benefits of the app. For example, when you order an Uber and the driver accepts your ride request, you see the name and picture of that driver, the details of their car and you can see the driver coming to you on the map in real time so you don’t have to keep looking out the window to check if they’re here.”
Uber drivers in Colorado must undergo an extensive background check, a Department of Transportation medical exam once a year, have the vehicle undergo a 19-point inspection by a licensed mechanic and have it annually renewed and drive a vehicle that is model year 2007 or newer that preferably has four doors and can seat four passengers. Of course, Uber drivers must have a valid driver’s license and up to date vehicle insurance and registration documents.
Because Sutton was logged off of Uber when the crash happened there wasn’t any need to alert the company.
“If I had been in ‘driver mode’, then there certainly would have been a requirement to notify Uber. Thankfully, part of the Uber experience is the fact that, as a Transportation Network Company, Uber provides insurance coverage for rider, vehicle, and driver,” Sutton said.
Sutton said that although he has not necessarily noticed an increase in individuals requesting Uber rides to and from bars and restaurants late at night, he does often hear stories from his clients related to them or someone they know who maybe got a DUI and lost their driver’s license and are so grateful Uber is here locally now as an option.
“I’ve had these people say to me ‘why would I not spend $8 to 10 for an Uber compared to $10,000 plus legal fees for a DUI,” Sutton said.
He also recalled a recent evening where an older couple ordered an Uber so they could have a few drinks and not worry about driving home afterward, even though it wasn’t far from where they were dining.
Currently Uber is the only ride-sharing service available in the Pueblo region other than traditional taxis. Sutton knows of 31 other Uber drivers in the area and he said as demand for rides grows, so will demand and number of drivers.
“I feel very passionate about this form of transportation to our community being safe, effective and pleasant. It’s like getting a ride from your neighbor,” Sutton said. “I believe in choice and Uber is another transportation choice in addition to public transportation choices like taxis. It has a niche and I’m excited to see people in Pueblo get excited about it and use it more. I think an increase in business will just continue.”
