Ride-sharing, vehicle accidents, and crime

The advent of smart-phone based, ride-sharing applications has revolutionized the vehicle for hire market. Advocates point to the ease of use and lower wait times compared to hailing a tax; or pre-arranging limousine service. Others argue that proper government oversight is necessary to protect ride-share passengers from a greater risk of injury from driver error or vehicle part failure and greater risks of violence from unlicensed strangers.  Using a unique panel of over 150 cities and counties from 2010 through 2013, we investigate whether the introduction of the ride-sharing service, Uber, is associated with changes in vehicle accidents and crime. We consider four measures of traffic accidents per capita: total accidents, alcohol-related accidents, night time accidents, and fatalities. In the unweighted regressions, entry of the ride-sharing service reduces accidents. Specifically, entry corresponds to a 0.268 reduction in accidents per capita, a 6 percent decline at the mean. Night time accidents experience a similarly sized decline of 0.19, an 18 percent decrease. The estimated effects on alcohol-involved accidents and fatalities are negative, but not statistically significant. Weighting the results by county population leads to estimates that are positive, smaller, and statistically insignificant. The change in estimates from weighted to unweighted suggests that effects are larger in less populous areas. To investigate whether ride-sharing is associated with changes in crime, we consider the effect of Uber’s entrance on arrests per 100,000 for a variety of crimes. Many of these crimes are likely to be affected by additional transportation options: driving under the influence (DUI), drunk, and disorderly conduct. Another group of crimes may be affected by the increased interaction of strangers: aggravated assault and other assaults. Because ride-sharing offers a new point-to-point transportation option, we also include motor vehicle thefts. To investigate whether any findings may be spurious, we include a number of crimes that are unlikely to be associated with ride-sharing: family offenses, liquor law violations, and curfew/loitering violations. We find that Uber’s entry lowers the rate of DUIs and fatal accidents. For most specifications, we also find declines in arrests for assault and disorderly conduct. Conversely, we observe an increase in vehicle thefts.