Glenn Beck�s conservative website The Blaze and an organization called the Foundation for Economic Education on Thursday published articles stating that Uber and Lyft�s departure from Austin was followed by a spike in drunken driving arrests.

However, more thorough numbers provided by Austin police show that drunken driving arrests in Austin actually went down since Uber and Lyft left town. It�s part of a continued downward trend in DWI arrest numbers that peaked in 2012.

The articles focused on a story published by KEYE-TV three weeks after Austinites handily voted against a proposition that would have undone city regulations requiring, among other things, fingerprint background checks for Uber and Lyft drivers. According to police data obtained by KEYE, last year �there were 359 DWI arrests from May 9, the day Uber and Lyft shut down, to May 31st� during the same time period (in 2015), there were 334 arrests. That�s a 7.5 percent in the weeks following their departure..�

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However, police data collected since 2011 shows that DWI arrests have actually fallen as part of a downtrend that began years before both Uber and Lyft existed.

In November, the American-Statesman asked Austin police to provide the total number of DWI arrests from the day the companies ceased ride-hailing operations in town through Nov. 9, the six-month anniversary of their departure. Compared to the same time frame in previous years, the data showed the number of people charged with driving while intoxicated was the lowest it has been in six years:

May 9, 2016 � Nov 9, 2016 � 2,801 May 9, 2015 � Nov 9, 2015 � 2,996 May 9, 2014 � Nov 9, 2014 � 3,061 May 9, 2013 � Nov 9, 2013 � 3,134 May 9, 2012 � Nov 9, 2012 � 3,139 May 9, 2011 � Nov 9, 2011 � 2,438

The numbers do not refute claims from the ride-sharing apps. During the campaign, allies of the companies claimed that ride-sharing was having a positive effect on tamping down the number of intoxicated drivers.

It was a compelling argument, given that Austin was coming off of its most deadly year for traffic fatalities. However, data from Austin police shows that the number of DWI arrests in Austin has continued to decline since the companies skipped town.

After Lyft and Uber left, a slew of other start-ups and a ride-sharing non-profit swooped in in an attempt to gobble up the two companies� clientele.

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