The platform algorithm needs to be improved, why do food delivery drivers have to sacrifice their lives for speed? Riders ignore traffic regulations for delivery | Time | Delivery personnel
Investigation motivation
Recently, # A delivery rider in Beijing illegally overtook and died # has become a hot search topic. The Beijing traffic management department has disclosed that a delivery driver driving over a car on a section of Xicheng District collided with a pedestrian crossing the road. After being sent to the hospital, the pedestrian died despite rescue efforts. At the time of the incident, the delivery man was speeding and did not drive on the right, with multiple faults.
Many netizens have left comments saying that in daily life, illegal behaviors such as running red lights, going against traffic, and speeding by food delivery riders have become common, seriously affecting traffic order and urgently requiring rectification. Public reports show that accidents and even fatalities caused by traffic violations by food delivery riders are also common.
Why do delivery riders run recklessly on the road? How to solve this chaos? The reporter conducted an investigation and interview on this matter.
"When riders deliver takeout, they often act at a speed of life and death, and we can't stop them at all," said Wang Li, a traffic counselor at a certain intersection in Chaoyang District, Beijing. During peak hours at noon and evening every day, Wang Li can always see many delivery riders flashing past her - whether it's a red light or a green light; I have also seen many food delivery riders suffer from traffic accidents as a result.
Rider Guo Kun is one of the "speeding experts". He admitted to a reporter from the Legal Daily that he once ran red lights twice and traveled in the opposite direction three times during a delivery process, with a speed exceeding 50 kilometers per hour multiple times. "I certainly know it's not safe, but if I don't do it, I won't be able to deliver on time. If the delivery exceeds the deadline, I'll be deducted more than I should have earned." He said, "As a rider, which one hasn't crossed the red light and which one hasn't exceeded the speed limit?"
With the development of the Internet ordering industry, takeaway delivery has become more and more convenient for people's lives. At the same time, the pursuit of speed has led riders to ignore traffic laws and regulations, and the accident rate is high. Recently, reporters visited multiple intersections in Beijing and found that delivery riders have committed prominent traffic violations such as running red lights, driving in the opposite direction, and speeding. Some riders also engage in distracted driving behaviors such as looking at their phones and answering phone calls while driving.
Riders ignore red lights at intersections
Overspeed retrograde is extremely common
At around 6 pm on July 17th, it was the peak time for delivery by delivery riders. At a crossroads connecting shopping malls with numerous office and residential buildings in Chaoyang District, Beijing, the reporter observed that more than 70 riders passed through the intersection within 30 minutes, including as many as 35 people who went against the road, crossed the road diagonally, and ran red lights.
There are many restaurants around the intersection, and dozens of delivery electric vehicles are occupying the sidewalk. Pedestrians can only walk along the roadside. After taking orders and picking up meals, the riders rode their electric bikes directly against the sidewalk into the road.
A few riders looked to the left and saw that the car was still some distance away from them. They then drove onto the sidewalk and rushed towards the opposite side of the road, completely ignoring the red light warning; When reaching the center of the road, due to the large number and fast speed of vehicles on the right side, the riders stopped. Some took out their phones and lowered their heads to check the information, some lay on the front of the electric bike waiting, and some kept observing the road conditions. Once there was a gap, they immediately increased their horsepower and rushed over.
Guo Kun often delivers takeout in this area, with a delivery radius of up to 5 kilometers and delivery times ranging from 30 to 60 minutes per order. He told reporters that during the peak delivery period, a rider may have six or seven orders on hand at the same time, with almost overlapping delivery times. To avoid exceeding the time limit, the delivery time for each order can only be compressed as much as possible. The system will provide route navigation for each order, but the delivery time is calculated based on the shortest route, and some shortest routes even include retrograde sections. If you don't go in the opposite direction and don't exceed the speed limit, it's impossible to deliver every order on time.
Once the delivery exceeds the deadline, the cost is high: a certain proportion of the delivery fee will be deducted based on the duration of the delay, sometimes up to 70%. "Everyone earns hard money and has to be quick," Guo Kun said.
Zhang Yi, who works as a security guard in Beijing, will work as a part-time rider during holidays. "I definitely want to give away a few more orders and make more money," he said. The maximum speed of a national standard electric vehicle is only 25 kilometers per hour, and normally, only 2 to 3 orders can be taken at a time. If you want to give away a few more orders at a faster speed, you have to take risks to modify the electric vehicle. In order to not exceed the time limit, you must always keep an eye on the time during the delivery process, and running red lights and going in the opposite direction is inevitable.
Especially on the rainy days when orders are most likely to explode, riders often have to appease anxious customers while rushing along. On a rainstorm day, a customer placed an order for about an hour. Zhang Yicai received the order. After receiving the order, the customer immediately called him to ask why the order had not been delivered for an hour. In fact, the delivery time of the rider is calculated from the time of receiving the order.
"The road is difficult to walk on rainy days. If the speed exceeds 20 kilometers per hour, the brakes are prone to slipping and falling. In addition, rain can affect visibility, so the delivery time is longer than on sunny days," said Zhang Yi.
Part time rider Luo Yu from Guangzhou, Guangdong is facing the same dilemma. He only runs for three or four hours a day, focusing on lunch and dinner time, completing an average of more than ten orders per day. He has a system for dispatching orders and also competes for orders on his own. Although there is a risk of exceeding the time limit when taking on multiple orders, Luo Yu still hopes to take on more orders because taking on more orders means making money. When he had more orders on hand, running red lights and going against the trend became a common occurrence for him.
The number of traffic accidents is increasing
Difficulty in safeguarding the rights and interests of both parties
The number of traffic accidents continues to increase due to riders speeding, going in the opposite direction, and running red lights.
According to staff from the Traffic Accident Handling Center in Changsha, Hunan, a large part of traffic accidents involve delivery riders, most of whom run red lights and drive in the opposite direction, especially when looking at their phones while cycling. In recent years, the traffic accident rate of food delivery riders has been on the rise.
Wang Li has seen many riders suffer from accidents due to collisions during her duty, especially at intersections where the traffic accident rate is relatively high.
On the evening of August 1st, it was raining in the sky. The reporter witnessed a traffic accident in a residential area in Chaoyang District, Beijing: a food delivery rider wearing a raincoat and a rain hat half covering his eyes, while answering the phone and riding, completely unaware of the pedestrians walking ahead. When he reacted, he quickly turned and the electric bike slipped, causing the food delivery inside the insulated box to scatter on the ground.
For riders, once an accident occurs, compensation is often difficult to achieve.
Liu Lin, who works as a rider in Beijing, was hit by a car while delivering takeout, leaving a 5-centimeter scar on the outside of his arm. "The driver has insurance, and the insurance company asked me to provide income proof to calculate the cost of lost work. At that time, my monthly income was around 10000 yuan, but when I asked the platform to provide an income proof, the platform said it had nothing to do with them. In the end, the insurance company compensated me based on the minimum wage standard."
Those whose rights cannot be guaranteed, as well as passersby injured by food delivery riders.
Beijing photographer Wang Pingping was once hit by a delivery rider while working. After the accident, the traffic police determined that the rider bears full responsibility for the accident, but the rider cannot afford it personally. Therefore, they contacted the platform company, but the other party completely disregarded the responsibility. "In order to avoid injury, we can only try to stay as far away from the 'speeding' delivery rider in the future.".
Multiple factors lead to chaos
Platform algorithms need to be improved
The reason for "risking one's life" for speed has been mentioned by several interviewed riders. On the one hand, it is for themselves to take on more orders and make more money, and on the other hand, it is for the platform's performance evaluation and to avoid being punished for exceeding the time limit.
The reporter learned that currently, most food delivery platforms implement piece rate wages, and the income of riders mainly comes from commission on "order volume". The more orders received, the more they earn. In addition, the identity level of a rider depends on their "bee value", which is calculated through multiple dimensions such as attendance rate, order volume, response rate, and positive feedback rate. The higher the "bee value", the more orders are dispatched. The riders are desperately running single insurance data, competing for "bee value" because it is closely related to income.
Wu Jie is the webmaster of Shandong Tai'an Station, an outsourced delivery company on a certain food delivery platform. He told reporters that food delivery platforms are usually only responsible for merchant entry and merchant order generation. Delivery services are outsourced to various delivery companies, and then provided by local stations under each delivery company.
"The reward and punishment systems of different delivery companies are basically similar, but the calculation rules are different. For example, the average unit price in Shandong is 4 yuan, and on this basis, the reward and punishment system is relatively loose. The average unit price in Beijing is 6 to 8 yuan, and the reward and punishment system is more strict. The most important aspects of rider performance evaluation are punctuality, satisfaction, violation rate, and attendance rate." Wu Jie said.
Regarding rider rewards, Wu Jie introduced that full-time riders mainly have full attendance rewards, single king rewards, total order salary, order ladder rewards, severe weather subsidies, distance subsidies, weight subsidies, night subsidies, etc; Part time riders mainly have order fees, various platform activity rewards such as "old leads new" and "rush order rewards", etc. Other subsidies mainly depend on the willingness of the merchant. If an order is not received by a rider for a long time, the merchant will increase the unit price.
The reporter learned from Wu Jie that for full-time riders, the delivery fee is fixed at 4 yuan per order. If it exceeds the delivery range by 1 kilometer, a subsidy of 1 yuan will be given, and if it exceeds the delivery range by 2 kilometers, a subsidy of 1.5 yuan will be given. If there is a serious timeout, a fine of 5 yuan will be imposed for each order. For part-time riders, a delivery fee of 20% will be deducted for orders exceeding 3 minutes, and 50% will be deducted for orders exceeding 3 minutes.
"Regarding complaints and negative reviews, full-time riders who encounter such situations either negotiate with customers or can only accept fines." Wu Jie said, "Part time riders deduct their personal credit score based on the situation. If their credit score is insufficient, they are prohibited from taking orders and require online training to answer questions in order to restore their order taking authority. In more serious cases, their account will be permanently suspended."
Some riders have also pointed out that the distance calculation algorithm of the platform has many unreasonable aspects, such as delivery time being calculated based on the distance, and not judging and measuring based on issues such as the speed of merchant meals, large and small meals, and whether there are special circumstances on the road.
Zhang Yi is most afraid of delivering takeout to renovated or upscale communities. Such orders are most likely to exceed the time limit, and vehicles cannot enter and can only be delivered on foot. When entering the community, he finds that there is no building or unit number, so he can only keep asking and calling customers. Once, because he couldn't find the address and contact the customer for a while, it took him an extra 20 minutes to deliver this order. At this point, there was not much time left for the next order.
Dong Laichao, a traffic legal practice expert and chief lawyer at Beijing Kaiya Law Firm, has long been concerned about the rights and interests of food delivery riders. He summarized the reasons for the frequent occurrence of traffic violations by riders. In addition to their weak awareness of traffic rules and lack of safety education, the platform dispatching mode and algorithm are important reasons.
"Some platforms have unreasonable delivery modes and excessively high deduction fees. The monthly income of delivery riders mainly relies on delivery fee commissions. If the delivery fee is calculated based on a single order of about 5 yuan, then if 30 orders are delivered per day, the rider can earn 150 yuan. However, if it exceeds the deadline, the rider usually needs to deduct a certain proportion of the delivery fee. If the customer returns the order, the rider needs to bear all the losses." Dong Laichao said, in addition, some platforms have a single algorithm, and the estimated arrival time is too short, so the rider can only run for life.
"Even some platforms, in order to appease users, display different arrival times for riders on their mobile phones. The arrival time on users' phones is often 1 to 2 minutes earlier, which leads to riders having to run on the road to avoid negative reviews." Dong Laichao said. In addition, some takeout merchants have slow food delivery and have already clicked "meal preparation completed" before serving, resulting in longer waiting times for riders and squeezed travel time.
Linkage supervision and governance of chaos
It is urgent to work with certificates
In April of this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Implementing the Responsibility of Online Catering Platforms and Effectively Safeguarding the Rights and Interests of Delivery Personnel. It was proposed that platforms should not use the "strictest algorithm" as an assessment requirement, but can reasonably determine the assessment elements such as order quantity, on-time rate, and online rate through methods such as "algorithm selection", and appropriately relax delivery deadlines. Online catering platforms and third-party cooperative units shall, in accordance with the law, participate in social insurance for food delivery personnel who have established labor relations, and encourage other food delivery personnel to participate in social insurance.
The reporter observed a certain food delivery platform and found that it tried to change the "estimated delivery time point" to "estimated delivery time period", and set up "Jijibao" to ensure the delivery time of orders. If the rider does not deliver within this time period, the platform will compensate the corresponding amount based on the time exceeded. However, on the order receiving page on the rider side, it still displays the required delivery time, with strict time limits. But the rider can extend the delivery time by reporting the slow delivery time of the merchant, which is calculated from the moment the order is received.
The contradiction between slowing down and income for delivery riders is urgent.
Multiple interviewed experts and industry insiders have pointed out that the governance of traffic violations by delivery riders cannot be separated from coordinated supervision. Firstly, the supervision of platforms and secondly, the supervision of riders.
Dong Laichao suggested that the platform adjust the assessment rules and optimize algorithms. At present, many food delivery platforms have not established a complete mechanism to incentivize delivery riders to reduce traffic violations, such as giving rewards to delivery riders who have not engaged in traffic violations; Big data intelligent analysis can be fully utilized to establish standards and remove the time spent on traffic congestion from rider assessment, while ignoring unreasonable negative reviews.
"In addition, the legal relationship between platforms and riders also urgently needs to be clarified. Currently, the management subjects between riders and platform companies are not clear, and there are complex social management models, such as specialized delivery models, labor dispatch models, crowdsourcing models, individual models, agency models, etc., which lead to lax management. Therefore, it is necessary to improve legislation to clarify the management subjects, so that when the rights and interests of riders or platform companies are damaged, they can receive reasonable and legal social relief." Dong Laichao said.
In his opinion, it is urgent to establish a strict admission system for the food delivery rider industry, and it is recommended that riders be licensed to work. For example, identifying a social management entity to train riders, holding a certificate after training, and conducting annual assessments and evaluations of riders. If traffic violations occur a certain number of times, they cannot pass the annual review the following year, and effective supervision is formed through source management.
Liu Wei, a partner at Beijing Shengchi Law Firm, also proposed that the platform should optimize algorithm design and other measures to achieve a balance between enterprise economic benefits, rider income, and safety as much as possible.
"How to handle customer dissatisfaction and complaints on the platform? Whether to simply punish riders or solve them through other means requires more thinking, and try to meet customer requirements while avoiding excessive pressure on riders to prevent situations where riders rush to deliver orders regardless of safety." Liu Wei said. He also suggests that relevant departments can supervise the platform to establish and improve channels and procedures for reflecting the demands of food delivery riders through irregular inspections, such as simplifying procedures, shortening processes, and entrusting the relevant demands of food delivery riders to the first responsible person for timely feedback. The feedback time should be controlled within 24 hours as much as possible to resolve conflicts in a timely manner.
