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What is it with some motorcycle delivery drivers and their total and utter lack of self-preservation instincts? I've just had a situation where (in a 20 zone) I slowed down to allow some pedestrians to cross. I checked my rear view mirrors and there was a lot of traffic behind me so I thought I would be kind and let them come across the road. Suddenly a motorcycle delivery driver managed to squeeze through the smallest Gap to my left and gun his engine before realising that the reason why I was stopping was because they were two people crossing the road in front of me. I'm now feeling very guilty as I now, as a consequence of my act of kindness, almost got them into an RTA.
I'm a little bit salty at this as someone I know just had an accident where they pulled out of a side road onto a box junction (where as they were turning right they were allowed to stop) - a car on their right stopped and the motorcycle behind them overtook and ran into the side of my friend. Despite the fact that they were stationary waiting to turn right as they were in the path of the motorcycle, it is apparently 100% their fault. Add to this that my friend's car has absolutely no damage on it and the motorcycle delivery vehicle was held together by tape and and you can see that there is a suspicion of a fraudulent claim. And yes, my friend is being hounded by the motorcycles insurance company who on a quick Google seems to be connected to this kind of thing - they are ignoring all messages and allowing their insurance company to do their job.
Anyway, rant over - I just wish that some motorcycle delivery drivers would drive a little bit more Defensively...
I think that it's delivery drivers in general (pedal cycles, e-bikes, vans etc.). they seem to be on such tight schedules that common sense & consideration go right out of the window; the industry really needs to take some responsibility.
There also seems to be a mad assumption that if you're a delivery driver/rider you're a 'professional' and therefore have some sort of special dispensation when it comes to rules of the road (see also a scrappily written piece of paper by the windscreen saying "courier working" allowing them to stop in the middle of the road whilst they trot off to deliver a parcel.
My main concern isn't their own death wish, but the total lack of concern for the wellbeing of other road or pavement users.
All the delivery riders I see are either on scooters with L plates or illegal battery bikes. So they've probably never had any formal training about how to ride without endangering themselves or others.
I can't understand the business model that is based on employing all your staff (yes, they say they're all self-employed but we know they're not really) who are riding illegally and without insurance.
I assume they have no insurance, I don't think I could get business insurance with a provisional licence.
There’s been a bit of crash for cash stuff with scooters around here (SW London). We actually witnessed one where a scooter rider stopped a line of traffic and then gesticulated repeatedly for the driver to pull out, who when they did pull out halfway, was then hit by another scooter overtaking the line of stationary traffic. Tbf there are also a lot of scooter deliveries acting like complete ****s too.
What is it with some motorcycle delivery drivers and their total and utter lack of self-preservation instincts? I
I was a London motorcycle courier / despatch rider back in the last century. I can't really speak for the current generation, but back then i was young, didn't really have a sense of my own mortality and was being paid piece rate, per mile per job, so under constant pressure to deliver stuff fast or not earn.
I was pretty competent in honesty - and a little lucky - two years on and off and no accidents. You get very good at reading the road and repeating traffic scenarios very, very fast and very good at the basic skills of handling a bike, because you're doing it all the time. Most importantly I was bright enough to work out that knowing where you were going and the most reliable routes across town was more important than riding like a loon.
I knew plenty of guys who did the latter and they mostly had a proper smash at some point. Like me back then, they were young and lacked a sense of their own vulnerability, which kind of goes with the territory. If you thought you'd crash, you wouldn't do the job. I can't imagine things are very different today. The real problem is arguably a gig economy system that puts delivery riders under too much time pressure, just the same as the van delivery guys who are permanently up against a near impossible delivery schedule.
I'm not saying motorcycle delivery riders are blameless, of course they're not, but I do think the whole gig economy scenario is at least partly responsible.
I checked my rear view mirrors and there was a lot of traffic behind me so I thought I would be kind and let them come across the road
I wouldn't stop in a busy road to allow people to cross, other road users may not understand the intentions and cause a collision. Don't be kind on the roads, be predictable.
I can't understand the business model that is based on employing all your staff (yes, they say they're all self-employed but we know they're not really) who are riding illegally and without insurance.
There’s someone on the CUK forum who’s done a bit of delivery riding. While it sounds utterly thankless he reckons there’s insurance included in the contract but this presumably relies on having a legal bike.
The reason the business model is like this is because it’s very cheap to take no responsibility.
My main concern isn't their own death wish, but the total lack of concern for the wellbeing of other road or pavement users.
Part of the problem is looking at it the wrong way around.
Delivery drivers are a statistical danger to a statistical pedestrian. Agreed.
But what are you going to do about it? Unless there's a crash that incapacitates them it's not something you can enforce.
However :
Delivery drivers are frequently working illegally because the immigration system won't grant them a permit to work. Which is probably a root cause in why they can't get a motorcycle license or insurance either. So they're stuck with illegal electric bikes.
Solve the actual real problem, not the hypothetical; danger it creates as a symptom, by allowing people in the immigration system a work permit and not expecting them to make do on £1.50 a day. They'd probably go out and get a CBT and a proper motorbike then as it would be more reliable than some lashed together electric contraption.
Delivery drivers are frequently working illegally because the immigration system won't grant them a permit to work. Which is probably a root cause in why they can't get a motorcycle license or insurance either. So they're stuck with illegal electric bikes.
Solve the actual real problem
Immigration?
*hides*
allowing people in the immigration system a work permit and not expecting them to make do on £1.50 a day.
This is very sensible, and would reduce the burden on the state in what is a country with a labour shortage, but as the only people whose views matter are McSweeney’s imaginary red wall Lab-Reform swing voters, any kind of considered, humane, evidence based policy around immigration is off the table in favour of performative cruelty.