Ridesharing apps such as Uber and Lyft have introduced to the public a cheap and “right at your fingertips” method for calling a ride home after a night of drinking. These apps have given the public the comfort of being able to arrive at a destination without worrying about finding parking, or as is often the case at night, worrying about drinking and driving.
Back in June of 2016, BuzzFeed News posted an article entitled “Here’s What Happens When Your UBER Driver Gets A DUI.” The article focused on an interview with a passenger who suspected her Uber driver of driving under the influence, the subsequent customer service the passenger received, and the steps that the company took in handling the situation with the driver. BuzzFeed also reported that this was not the first incident where an Uber driver was arrested for driving under the influence. The driver associated with this particular drive was deactivated fairly quickly. However, that was not the case for all of Uber’s drivers who received complaints of drunk driving.
According to the Uber homepage, they have a zero-tolerance policy with regard to driving under the influence. Specifically, it states, “Uber does not tolerate the use of alcohol or drugs by drivers using the Uber app.” Yet, the Los Angeles Times recently released an article that highlighted an investigation by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that resulted in Uber being fined a total of $750,000 for failing to follow its own “zero tolerance policy.
The zero-tolerance policy is a requirement that was included by the CPUC within the regulations for smartphone-enabled ride share companies. The regulations, approved in 2013, were placed in an attempt to placate the angry licensed taxi companies and their drivers whose service was disrupted by the spread of these private drivers through the smartphone and online applications. The regulations called for the ride-sharing companies to institute a zero-tolerance intoxicating substance policy for all of its drivers and to suspend the driver to allow for an investigation as soon as a zero-tolerance complaint is filed.
Uber’s violation of the policy was discovered in an investigation of the customer complaints associated with driving under the influence from August 2014 to August 2015. An administrative law judge had recommended a fine of $7,500 per violation, which, with the number of violations found in the investigation, would have resulted in a total of $1,132,500.
However, a settlement was made between the CPUC and Raiser-CA, an Uber owned company, and the final amount of $750,000 was reached Thursday, November 8th. According to the Los Angeles Times, “In addition to the fine, Uber agreed to implement an education program on zero-tolerance regulations and file a motion to expand existing regulations and develop stronger standards for the ride-hailing industry.”
AB 2687, a bill that passed in 2016 and has been in effect since July 1, 2018, lowers the blood alcohol level of drivers with passengers for hire in their vehicles to 0.04 percent or more to be considered under the influence. How this new bill affects how Uber handles their education program and renews their standards will be an interesting development.
Hopefully, Uber will be able to remedy the issue in a timely manner. One of the main reasons that many people utilize ride sharing services like Uber is to prevent drunk driving. If hired drivers continue to create an issue of driving under the influence, we are essentially replacing one drunk driver with another, resulting in a public safety issue that we had wanted to avoid in the first place.
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