Safety on the Road

The recent announcement by UBER, as follows, "From 8 December, the Uber App will be updated and to help you manage your time the app will notify when you are close to 12 hours driving. If you reach 12 hours driving time, the app will stay offline for a 6 hour rest period. For more information and frequently asked questions, head to the link below", is a creditable effort by UBER.

However, whilst working in the Oil and Gas industry and managing a large group of specialists, we were not permitted to allow are people to return to work within 10 hours following a 12 hour shift.

I don't want to be seen as making life difficult for UBER drivers, but being on the road, concentrating on driving, safety is certainly a key issue for both driver and passengers and a 6 hour break is hardly sufficient to rest before starting another 12 hour driving shift, especially if it continued over a prolonged period.

 

I see the limiting of driving hours a good thing. However Uber's 'clock' only runs when you're on trip and in motion, so the 12 hour limit is in fact likely to be as much as 16 hours in some instances on the less busy days. I reckon the dead time waiting for a ping should also be included in the online time.

 

Absolutely correct. Driving or sitting in your car waiting for a job is not being at home resting. I just wonder what will happen when someone finally falls asleep at the wheel and does some serious damage to property and possibly the loss of life. I wonder how Uber will deal with the level of moral culpability!

 

The 12hrs driving limit is not perfect but it is much better than the "no limits" we had before. Not sure about Perth but i know that it Melbourne it gets a lot of 20-23hrs drivers off the road and creates a shortage. Not only the roads are safer now, Uber was also forced to increase the base rates. More surges too.