A woman was allegedly punched five times by a food delivery rider who almost collided with her on an electric bicycle. Food delivery rider Ms Shen was on her way to fulfil an order at Block 36 Chai Chee Avenue on June 14 when another food delivery rider also on an e-bike hastily made his way out of the carpark.
The man narrowly missed Ms Shen as he sped past her. She then instinctively responded, “Oi!”. According to Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News, the man waited for Ms Shen to finish her delivery. The man was still there when she returned to the void deck to retrieve her e-bike. “Oi, what oi,” he asked fiercely. The man didn’t wait for a reply and punched Ms Shen in the face. He allegedly punched her at least five times before leaving.
Ms Shen recalled the man was at least one head taller than her. She fell to the ground after the assault and couldn’t fight back. Her face and lip were badly swollen from the assault; she also suffered from a black eye.
She immediately lodged a police report and called for an ambulance. The police have confirmed the incident, noting investigations were ongoing.
The incident has since sparked comments from netizens on road safety. “Last time only need to deal with road rage on the roads, nowadays, even walking and cycling is unsafe!” said Facebook user Tiong Guan Chua, urging food delivery platforms to start taking responsibility for their staff’s actions.
“I really dun understand some of these delivery riders. They rush and get agitated so easily. Not sure they delivering food or escorting million-dollar goods…give a bad name to other riders who are passionate about their job yet are composed and are respectful towards others,” added another netizen.
Facebook user Niki Ng tagged the Singapore Police Force in a suggestion to implement jail sentences for road rage incidents involving food delivery personnel similar to penalties for vehicle drivers.
“This would be more effective in deterring such incidents from happening again; otherwise more of such cases would happen again in the future,” she added. /TISG
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