Uber called out for distracted driving over cellphone use

QI read your column about the Uber driver who looks at his cellphone for 2 seconds while driving to check the location of a possible pickup.

I’ll bet this happens multiple times during the drive for his present client. Adding up all those 2-second time periods spells D-A-N-G-E-R!

This means at 35 mph for 2 seconds, the Uber vehicle travels about 103 feet, during which time he’s distracted. That’s about seven car lengths. During that time, he has lost all situational awareness of his surroundings while driving. Not good.

And if he’s distracted more than 2 seconds, well, that’s just really bad.

— Manny Barron, North Fork

A And…

QGary, we all know that you are a gentle soul, but you were far too gentle in saying that Uber’s response-time rules “sound like they encourage dangerous driving.”

No, they REQUIRE dangerous driving. If you want to talk about distracted driving, which is a big problem, please call this like it is. — Marty Klein,

Palo Alto

AAn Uber driver told Roadshow that when “we get a ping for a new ride request, we need to carefully read the screen for 2 seconds to see the pickup location and figure out where it is and decide to accept the request before it disappears in 5 seconds.”

That riled up many drivers. Studies indicate that traffic collisions are high when ride-sharing vehicles are factored in, but there is no conclusion on whether scanning one’s cellphone is the reason. But ride sharing is credited with a dramatic drop in arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in California’s biggest cities.

Studies found that arrests had declined by 32% in San Diego, 28% in San Jose, 26% in Sacramento and 14% in both Los Angeles and the San Francisco-Oakland area in the two years after ride sharing began in each of the areas.

Sgt. Michael-a-TrafficCop says he’s seen a huge “increase in Lyft and Uber drivers who come through our San Jose DUI checkpoints, and I know from personally observing their clients that I’m very thankful many chose not to drive themselves.”

In large cities, avoiding driving when drinking is the second leading reason for hailing a car, with 33% taking that option instead of getting behind the wheel, a UC Davis study said. Difficulty finding parking was the top reason.

Even in Las Vegas, where people go to gamble, party and drink, arrests were down 37% from 2013 to 2016. Las Vegas had an average of 4,859 DUI arrests per year before Uber launched in 2015. That number dropped to 3,056 after ride-sharing began in earnest.