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from the i'm-as-jober-as-a-sudge-ocifer dept.
Tech Times reports that in response to the surging number of drunken-driving cases in Evensham, a small town in southern New Jersey, local authorities have teamed with Uber to help residents who drank too much get home safely. The agreement means that more than 19 restaurants and bars will match you with an Uber car, in case you had one beer too many. The local administration of the 45,000 people community is confident that this will curb the numbers of inebriated drivers. The Uber ride program is free and is funded from private donations. "We're dealing with people who might've had too much to drink, so we needed to make it so easy for them to open their iPhone and push a button," says Mayor Randy Brown. The New Jersey town, on track for a record-breaking 250 DUI arrests in 2015, has become the first U.S. municipality to partner with Uber to keep inebriated residents from getting behind the wheel. "We began working with Mayor Brown through our national partner, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and realized it was the perfect opportunity to use our technology to help take drunk drivers off the road," says Ana Mahony, general manager for Uber New Jersey.
(Score: 2) by TrumpetPower! on Tuesday October 27 2015, @03:10AM
...they should be offering free rides to the bars, not just from them. There'll be drunks who don't want to deal with the hassle of getting back to the bar in the morning to pick up the cars left behind.
But if you can get a free ride to the bar in the first place, and perhaps even a shuttle for barhopping during the night...well, that also takes away all the hassle of finding a parking spot, arguing over who's going to be designated, arguing with the designated one over intoxication levels, and so on.
Of course, a truly civilized society would have free, ubiquitous, and frequent public transit that would obviate the need for this type of a discussion in the first place, but that's another topic for another day....
Cheers,
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @03:17AM
I think that WAS a topic for a PREVIOUS day, then public transit got *ahem* railroaded out of town. We now have roads covering everything.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by daaelar on Tuesday October 27 2015, @12:29PM
There is actually a solution listed for this in the article. I know, I know... nobody reads the fine article. BeMyDD was tapped to bring your car back from the bar, too. While I'm not necessarily a fan of MADD, Evesham is actually a part of South Jersey with tiny, overcrowded roads and has problems with DWI accidents and injuries frequently. Hopefully this takes off. I'd like to see this become a pre-paid service, though. It's not sustainable with donations, and has quite a bit of potential for abuse. A model where you top up monthly ala EZpass might be a good idea here.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday October 28 2015, @01:33AM
Well it's not like it's hard to pay for an Uber. Once you have the app installed on your phone and have it set up with your credit card number, you don't have to do anything at all; it automatically charges your card when you complete a ride, which you called for with the app with just a few taps.
Honestly, I don't know how they could possibly make it easier to use. The only reason they're even doing this is presumably because the drunks are too cheap to call an Uber.