Food delivery people, involved in dozens of serious road accidents

The food delivery people, who arrived in Romania from various areas of Asia, were involved in dozens of serious road accidents.

The Traffic Police ran several campaigns to explain traffic rules to couriers in Asia.

However, the number of road accidents involving food delivery people remains high, according to data from the General Police Inspectorate.

Food delivery people, involved in dozens of serious road accidents

We are talking about food delivery people from countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka and who have found work in the Capital.

Some of them have a driving license recognized in Romania. But those who ride e-bikes, even scooters, have more eyes on their phones and less on traffic. So there are quite a lot of cases where they drive chaotically, sometimes going the wrong way on one-way streets.

According to an official address of the Minister of Internal Affairs, citizens of the states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Nepal and the Philippines were involved in 20 serious road accidents, as a result of which 6 people died and 23 others were seriously injured, he writes HotNews.ro

The data presented by the minister were extracted from the IGPR database, valid for the period 30.06.2021-30.06.2024.

„The main generative causes on the background of which the above-mentioned accidents occurred were: speed not adapted to road conditions, indiscipline of cyclists, failure to give priority to vehicles and failure to give priority to pedestrians“, the quoted note states.

The figures above refer to serious road accidents with casualties. But the total number of accidents is much higher, authorities say.

„Deliveries from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka work 10 hours a day and make 20-30 trips, depending on orders and distance. Dozens of fatal accidents involving Asian couriers on e-bikes or scooters were recorded last year“, explains Claudiu Costea, spokesperson of the Bucharest Traffic Police.

Deliveries brought from abroad, without a permit

Only some of the suppliers brought from abroad have internationally recognized permits. In their case, the IGPR specifies that, according to the laws in force, training courses for driving a motor vehicle on public roads (including preventive driving training for driving license holders) are organized at the level of schools authorized by the Romanian Road Authority within the Ministry Transport and Infrastructure.

The international driving license is a legalized translation of the national driving license issued by the authorities of a member state to the Convention on road traffic, concluded in Vienna on November 8, 1968 and/or to the Convention on road traffic, concluded in Geneva on September 19, 1949.

In the context, the IGPR specified that, according to the current regulatory framework, training courses for driving a vehicle on public roads (including preventive driving training for driving license holders) are organized at the level of schools authorized by the Romanian Road Authority within the Ministry Transport and Infrastructure.

In the case of bicycle or scooter delivery people, however, they generally do not possess any kind of driver’s license. So, many of them do not know the traffic rules.