NEW YORK (BRAIN) — The e-bike rental platform Whizz will provide 100 free helmets each month for the city's last-mile delivery workers for at least the next six months.
The Ride Safe initiative started in May, which is National Bike Safety Month. Any worker with an active delivery service account is eligible for a helmet, which has headlight and warning tail lights. If demand continues, the program could be extended to a year.
With more than 1.4 million delivery workers in the U.S. Whizz is hoping other companies join its initiative to provide adequate equipment to workers. Whizz's rental program for last-mile delivery workers offers e-bikes with eight-hour battery life, on-demand maintenance and repairs.
"This is not a marketing campaign; the helmets aren't branded and you don't have to be a Whizz client to claim one," said Mike Peregudov, Whizz co-founder and CEO. "This isn't about profit or recognition. It's about making sure every delivery driver on the streets of New York is safe. However, we cannot protect them all ourselves and will need the wider industry to join us in providing vital safety equipment to those that keep the sector moving forward."
To claim a free helmet, riders should fill out a form on the Whizz website. They can then receive their helmets from one of the company's locations in Manhattan or Brooklyn by showing an active delivery driver account and ID.
"Rain, shine, or snow, there's always a delivery driver on hand to get our orders to us within the hour," said Ksenia Proka, Whizz co-founder. "Offering instant delivery, keeping small businesses afloat, and serving those with limited mobility, they're among the unsung heroes of our workforce. Yet, they're too often underappreciated. So much so that they're not even provided with important safety equipment, despite the frequent crashes that occur on our city streets. More than half of delivery drivers in New York have been involved in an accident in the past year and collisions continue to rise. We feel a responsibility to make sure our clients are safe."
