Ride-sharing firm Uber plans to start reminding passengers to put on seat belts by pinging driver telephones and sending riders messages amid a spike in US site visitors deaths.

Uber advised Reuters its new characteristic that launches on Tuesday goals to alert riders to buckle up by way of a particular chime from the driving force’s cellphone and a simultaneous push notification to the rider’s cellphone.

“The intent is really just to help remind riders that they should be buckling up – every seat, every time,” stated Kristin Smith, Uber’s head of Global Road Safety Policy, who added the chime “sounds kind of like an airplane seat belt reminder.”

Uber needs riders to get within the behavior of all the time buckling up. It plans to ship riders push notifications initially of their subsequent 5 journeys after which periodically thereafter.

Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety (NHTSA) estimated that US site visitors deaths climbed 12 p.c by means of the primary 9 months of 2021 to 31,720 – the very best quantity killed on American roads in that interval since 2006.

NHTSA estimates 90.4 p.c of grownup front-seat passengers wore seat belts in 2021, however research have prompt back-seat passengers put on seat belts at decrease charges.

The company stated beforehand of twenty-two,215 passenger car occupants killed in 2019, 47 p.c weren’t carrying seat belts.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety discovered beforehand about 80 p.c of individuals surveyed don’t all the time buckle up throughout quick journeys or when touring by taxi or ride-hailing service.

Mark Chung, vp of roadway apply on the National Safety Council, famous that since 1975 seat belts are estimated to have saved greater than 374,000 lives on US roads. He praised Uber for “taking seat belt safety seriously with this new feature.”

© Thomson Reuters 2022