Delivering hot food on motorcycles: A mixed method study of the impact of business model on rider behaviour and safety

In Great Britain, motorcyclists have the highest fatality rate per billion passenger miles of all road users, and people who work on motorcyclists have a much greater risk of injury compared to other motorcyclists. Many hot meal delivery services are provided by people using motorcycles. Work can be accessed by an app or by being employed by a restaurant. There is a need to understand whether the business model under which riders work influences their experience of risk or whether this is just related to the risks of delivering food by motorbike per se. Interviews were conducted with six gig riders and 14 employed riders and an online survey was completed by 164 riders working via apps and 155 employed by restaurants. Gig workers were significantly more likely to agree that that their phone was a distraction and that they violated traffic laws related to speeding, red light running and, unsurprisingly, they had more points on their licence compared to employed riders. Gig riders were also more likely to be incentivised to ride in dangerous conditions and carry unstable loads. Gig workers were more likely to report being involved in collisions where their vehicle was damaged and where someone was injured. These findings were also evident in interview narratives. More needs to be done to make gig companies embed practices that do not increase risks for delivery riders.