I'm not sure it's valid to compare Uber's response times to EMS's response times. An Uber cab can pick you up just by stopping in front of your building. But if you have a heart attack while in your apartment, an ambulance crew accomplishes nothing by pulling up in front of the building. They need to get into the building, go up to the floor on which you live (it may be a 5th floor walk-up, or the elevator may be out of service) and into your apartment, while carrying their gear. They also can't discourage you from calling an ambulance during peak traffic times by doubling their rates.
"Starting with SCA, Uber can begin to save millions of lives a year. It simply needs to mandate all its drivers to carry one automated external defibrillator (AED) and to go through the American Heart Association’s brief (only 4 hours) CPR and AED training course."
If you were having a heart attack, would you want your first responder to be an Uber driver with 4 hours of training or a qualified EMT? Would you trust the Uber driver to keep the batteries in his AED charged? Would Uber or the driver want to assume the potential legal liability of causing someone's death? What if you thought you had a heart attack but really had some other problem, like a stroke, in which case zapping you with an AED could cause additional harm?
By the way, I looked up an AED on Amazon, and it costs about $1000. If every potential Uber driver had to buy one of those, Uber would have a hard time finding drivers.
"With more investment, the emergency wait time can be slashed even further if Uber also finds the right partnerships to enable emergency lighting and sirens on its vehicles."
You can't just put lights and sirens on a vehicle and expect them to be able to drive safely through red lights. The driver needs to be trained in how to do that. In NYC, I've frequently seen drivers not stopping to let a huge fire truck with blaring sirens through an intersection, so it's pretty hard to do. No city would let untrained people try something like that - too much risk of death and lawsuits.
"Starting with SCA, Uber can begin to save millions of lives a year. It simply needs to mandate all its drivers to carry one automated external defibrillator (AED) and to go through the American Heart Association’s brief (only 4 hours) CPR and AED training course."
If you were having a heart attack, would you want your first responder to be an Uber driver with 4 hours of training or a qualified EMT? Would you trust the Uber driver to keep the batteries in his AED charged? Would Uber or the driver want to assume the potential legal liability of causing someone's death? What if you thought you had a heart attack but really had some other problem, like a stroke, in which case zapping you with an AED could cause additional harm?
By the way, I looked up an AED on Amazon, and it costs about $1000. If every potential Uber driver had to buy one of those, Uber would have a hard time finding drivers.
"With more investment, the emergency wait time can be slashed even further if Uber also finds the right partnerships to enable emergency lighting and sirens on its vehicles."
You can't just put lights and sirens on a vehicle and expect them to be able to drive safely through red lights. The driver needs to be trained in how to do that. In NYC, I've frequently seen drivers not stopping to let a huge fire truck with blaring sirens through an intersection, so it's pretty hard to do. No city would let untrained people try something like that - too much risk of death and lawsuits.