Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft offer a fast and expedient way for people to get where they’re going—and people are going more than ever. As of 2016, Uber and Lyft drivers travelled a combined 500 million miles per month across the United States. However, researchers say that the convenience and affordability of ridesharing come at a price. Whenever Uber, Lyft and other rideshare services come to town, an uptick in fatal accidents is soon to follow, according to research out of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Rice University in Houston, Texas. Researchers found a 3 percent increase in deadly and serious accidents where ridesharing platforms are introduced.
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a rideshare accident, contact our Lyft accident lawyer in Salt Lake City, UT right away to discuss your rights under the law.
These services provide commuter convenience and open up the options for folks looking for a ride from one destination to the next. They also provide a new way for people who need extra income to earn a living. But the flip side to the benefits of ridesharing is that the costs of having these services available in a community can literally be measured in human lives via the increase in the number of catastrophic car accidents and fatalities.
According to researchers, when applying the statistical value of human life as determined by the United States Department of Transportation, ridesharing services have cost the economy around $10 billion. Fatal crash data statistics for the study were derived for analysis from the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration.
Lyft and Uber have both challenged the findings of this study. And there is potential room for error in the study’s findings since the NTHSA data used did not specify when fatal crashes involved ridesharing. When crunching the numbers for the study, researchers merely compared the total fatalities of cities with ridesharing services compared to cities with no ridesharing services.
Uber says that its data science team reviewed the report and determine it to b flawed. Similarly, Lyft dubbed the study to be “deeply flawed, from the problematic methodology to its unjustified conclusions.” Lyft went on to point out that studies have indicated that rideshare operations cause a reduction in DUIs in areas where they’re available, improve mobilities in crowded cities and provide valuable transportation in underserved areas.
The study’s authors say that it is not a condemnation of ridesharing. What the study basically says is that ridesharing puts more cars on the roadway, which creates more opportunity for things to go wrong.
Being involved in an accident with Uber, Lyft or other ridesharing services can be devastating, and navigating the claims process in the aftermath of such accidents is nothing short of daunting. If you or someone you love has been involved in a ridesharing accident, Jardine Law Offices P.C. P.C. wants to help. Contact our Salt Lake City Lyft accident attorney right away to schedule your free, no-obligation case consultation now.