Big questions about online shopping delivery driver safety

Camps Bay residents are up in arms about one-hour grocery delivery services after a tragic accident claimed the life of 30-year-old delivery rider.

The crash occurred on Camps Bay Drive this past Saturday, 11 January 2025 and involved the delivery motorcycle and two other vehicles. It remains unclear what caused the crash.

“Camps Bay Drive remains a stop-and-go to all traffic. This is due to a fatal accident just after 14:00 today, involving two vehicles and a motorbike,” Ward 54 councillor Nicola Jowell said in a Facebook post.

“A tragic incident, and my condolences to the friends and family of the man who has passed away.”

Following the crash, residents laid the blame on the one-hour delivery promises offered by various e-commerce players and took to Facebook to voice their concerns over the safety of delivery riders.

According to CapeTalk, this was the fourth accident involving a delivery driver in the area in seven days.

“Stop this nonsense of delivery in one hour. Surely one can of Coke and six eggs can wait?” one user commented.

“Nobody’s groceries arriving in under one hour is worth a life,” another said.

However, Shoprite has told MyBroadband that the man who lost his life was not a Checkers Sixty60 rider.

While he was a delivery driver, he did not work for one of the grocery retailers.

Therefore, commenters’ anger at one-hour grocery delivery promises may have been misplaced.

Whereas many commenters took the opportunity to attack delivery promises, rider training may also be a significant challenge in South Africa.

In May 2024, Motorcycle Safety Institute of South Africa founder Hein Jonker expressed his concerns over the training that delivery riders receive and questioned whether some of them are licenced to ride in the country.

Jonker explained that many riders employed by on-demand delivery services aren’t local. This is problematic cause many other African nations licence drivers to ride motorcycles, even if they have only passed their driving tests in cars.

“They come to this country with a licence that includes a motorcycle licence, and off they go,” he added.

Some callers who spoke to Cape Talk said they believe there is a need for defensive driving training for delivery riders, and Jonker agrees.

He explained that completing a motorcycle training course isn’t a massive undertaking for riders, with the programmes generally lasting a few days. However, the length of training varies between riders.

“Most motorcycle training programmes can last a couple of days, it really depends on if he or she has ridden a bicycle before, if they have a good understanding or comprehension of the rules of the road,” said Jonker.

“I would say a good effective training programme should be about five days, where they can go from range training where there’s no interference of traffic or other elements, to on-the-road training in the environment he or she will be riding in.”

However, he also acknowledged that delivery promises pressure riders, leading to poor road behaviour as they push to meet targets.

Not only are delivery promises a potential problem, but the nature of the job requires drivers to deliver orders as quickly as possible to maximise their earnings.

“If you put a person under pressure that might not have been riding a motorcycle where he or she comes from under that kind of pressure, something’s got to give,” said Jonker.

He explained that time pressure means riders don’t manage risks appropriately and often forego safety aspects like securing their helmets correctly.

“Do they take chances through traffic? Yes, they do. So, something gives, and when something gives, the risk is increased dramatically, and then you see things go wrong in traffic,” added Jonker.