

Study Credits Uber with Decline in California Drunk Driving Deaths - nsheth17
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/08/07/study-credits-uber-with-decline-in-california-drunk-driving-deaths

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DrScump
This is really, really sloppy reporting. It appears that KQED just rebroadcast
a press release without even looking at the paper.

1) this is not a peer-reviewed study; it is only a working paper.

2) the paper counts ONLY HOMICIDES (ignores collisions that do not result in
homicide) and counts a collision as DUI-induced EVEN IF THE DRIVER IN THE
WRONG IS STONE COLD SOBER. It also seems to not distinguish between drivers
and passengers (they count number of involved _parties_ , not number of
involved drivers.

3} I can find no information that they used any controls, e.g. contrasted
regions with similar demographics and tracking history of DUI that DO have
Uber/Sidecar/etc. versus those who do NOT; . That would be the most meaningful
data. DUI rates can drop for a given population by other factors, e.g.
increased penalties, enforcement; concomitant decrease in homicides to due
improved vehicle safety (collision strength, air bags, percentage of involved
vehicles with air bags and such, etc.); significantly fewer bad-weather days
in CA in the recent drought years, etc.

