Uber introduces new policy to prevent drowsy driving
Uber in South Africa will this week introduce a new hours policy for driver-partners across South Africa to help enhance driver and passenger safety.
Citing Arrive Alive, Uber pointed out that tiredness-related crashes are three-times more likely to result in serious injury or death compared to other types of road crashes.
Uber already boasts safety related features including an in-app notification that reminds drivers to take a break when feeling tired on the road.
Its new feature prompts drivers to go offline for six straight hours after a total of 12 hours of driving time. Drivers who do not take a long enough break will not be able to log into the app and take trips before that period expires.
Alon Lits, general manager for Uber Sub-Saharan Africa, said: “Driver-partners in South Africa are already driving responsibly but safety is one of our key pillars and we believe this new feature will be adding one more safety layer.
“It’s the right thing to do. We want to promote safe and responsible use of the Uber app and this feature has tremendous potential to protect not only Uber driver-partners, but also their passengers and, ultimately, all road users.”
Driver-partners will be able to track the time they spend on Uber trips and will be reminded when they’ve reached their maximum time on the Uber app.
It provides periodic notifications when drivers are approaching the 12-hour driving time limit and then will automatically go offline for six straight hours when their max has been reached, but drivers will be able to finish any trip they’re currently on.
After the six hours, driving time resets and drivers can go online again to receive trip requests. This will be a phased roll out and not all driver-partners will see this right away, Uber said.
Read: Uber a big step closer to being fully regulated in South Africa
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