The human impact of commercial delivery cycling injuries: a pilot retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Background Commercial delivery cyclists represent a uniquely vulnerable and poorly understood road user. The primary aim of this study was to pilot whether cycling injuries could be categorised as either commercial or non-commercial using documentation entered into routine hospital medical records, in order to determine the feasibility of conducting a large cohort study of commercial cycling injuries in the future. A secondary aim was to determine which key demographic, incident and injury characteristics were associated with commercial versus non-commercial cycling injuries in emergency. Methods Pilot retrospective cohort study of adults presenting to an acute public hospital emergency department between May 2019 and April 2020 after sustaining a cycling-related injury. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the demographic, incident and injury characteristics associated with commercial compared to non-commercial cycling. Results Of the 368 people presenting to the emergency department with a cycling-related injury, we were able to categorise 43 (11.7%) as commercial delivery cyclists, 153 (41.6%) as non-commercial cyclists and the working status of 172 (46.7%) was unable to be confirmed. Both commercial and unconfirmed cyclists were more likely to be younger than non-commercial cyclists. Compared to non-commercial cyclists, commercial cyclists were 11 times more likely to speak a language other than English (AOR 11.3; 95% CI 4.07–31.30; p<0.001), less likely to be injured from non-collision incidents than vehicle collisions (AOR 0.36; 95% CI 0.15–0.91; p=0.030) and were over 13 times more likely to present to the emergency department between 8.00pm and 12.00am compared to the early morning hours (12.00 to 8.00am) (AOR 13.43; 95% CI 2.20–82.10; p=0.005). Conclusions The growth of commercial cycling, particularly through online food delivery services, has raised concern regarding commercial cyclist safety. Improvements in the recording of cycling injury commercial status is required to enable ongoing surveillance of commercial cyclist injuries and establish the extent and risk factors associated with commercial cycling.

Examining gender differences in gig worker safety

“…In our study, male gig worker participants did not experience more crashes (where nobody was injured or where somebody was injured) or near miss incidents than female gig worker participants. However, existing data from SafeWork New South Wales—an Australian work health and safety regulator—suggest an over‐representation of males in safety incidents when gig working, as 82% of food delivery gig workers involved in a safety incident were men (Convery et al, 2020; see also Sarkies et al, 2022). Beyond the literature on gig work, the study of gender differences in road safety incidents has been studied for decades internationally (e.g., Al‐Balbissi, 2003; Prati et al, 2019; Russo et al, 2014; Santamariña‐Rubio et al, 2014; Visby & Lundholt, 2018).…”