Road safety situation of electric bike riders: A cross-sectional study in courier and take-out food delivery population

Objective Almost all courier and take-out food delivery riders in China use electric bikes as the main transport mode. This study aims to understand their riding behaviors and road traffic injury information of this population.Methods A cross-sectional field study focused on this population was conducted, including roadside observation and face-to-face retrospective street intercept interviews.Results Six hundred target delivery riders were observed and 480 were interviewed. The rate of overspeeding was 91.3%, and windshield use during winter was 91.2%. Traffic violation behaviors observed included riding in the motor vehicle lane (32.8%), not waiting behind the white line at a red light (23.3%), and using cell phone when riding (21.2%). Helmet use was significantly more common during the day (73.0%) than at night (64.7%; P = .028). About 46.5% of respondents rode an e-bike more than 8 h per day. In addition, 76.5% of interviewees had been involved in a traffic crash at least once. About 13.9% of crashes happened in motor vehicle lanes and 8.2% on sidewalks. Logistic regression analysis indicated that compared with uninjured riders, injured riders showed significantly greater odds ratios of unsafe behaviors for running red lights (odds ratio [OR] = 1.75) and protective factors for wearing a helmet (OR = 0.56).Conclusions The courier and take-out food delivery population is a vulnerable occupational group and road traffic injuries related to e-bike use require more attention.