Uber announced in a press release that a global survey of riders in 10 countries found most say the service helps prevent impaired driving and acts as their designated driver, reinforcing the platform’s role in road safety.
Drunk driving remains one of the most persistent and preventable road-safety threats worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), roughly 298,000 people were killed in alcohol-related road crashes in 2019 alone, with a significant portion caused by someone other than the drinking driver. With more than 1.19 million road deaths annually from all causes, policymakers are searching for practical tools that encourage personal responsibility without heavy-handed bans. Uber’s message leans into that debate by framing app-based rides as a voluntary, market-driven way for people to avoid getting behind the wheel after drinking, complementing—rather than replacing—traditional enforcement and education.
According to Uber’s new survey of 5,000 riders across ten major markets, there is near-unanimous concern about impaired driving: 95% say drunk driving is a problem where they live, with even higher agreement in countries like Argentina, India, and Australia. Crucially for the company’s case, 86% of respondents believe the platform has reduced drunk driving and made travel safer, while 82% say they use the app as their “designated driver,” a figure rising to 85% in Argentina and Mexico. In several countries, more than 80% report planning ahead to use Uber before going out to drink, suggesting riders are consciously substituting rideshare for risky choices.
The survey reinforces a growing body of independent research that links rideshare availability to fewer alcohol-related crashes. A study in JAMA Surgery found that when Uber entered the Houston market, alcohol-associated vehicle crash traumas and impaired-driving convictions dropped measurably, indicating riders were choosing the app instead of driving drunk. Separate work for the National Bureau of Economic Research estimates that Uber’s presence is associated with about a 5% reduction in U.S. traffic fatalities, equating to hundreds of lives saved in a single year, with the biggest gains on nights and weekends when bar traffic is highest.
Uber Technologies Inc., founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, operates in roughly 70 countries and about 15,000 cities. This makes it the largest global ridesharing platform by user base. The company reports more than 180 million monthly active platform users and around six million active drivers and couriers who choose when and where to work—a flexibility economists have highlighted as a key benefit of app-based driving compared with traditional employment models. Alongside food delivery and freight services, Uber increasingly presents its safety tools, partnerships with groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and research on drunk driving as evidence that private-sector innovation can expand mobility, preserve worker flexibility and improve public safety without expansive new regulation.
