A 24-year-old man had passed away in an unfortunate accident involving two motorcycles and a van at about 1pm on 10 April. The accident happened along Gambas Avenue in Woodlands towards Yishun Avenue 7.
Another motorcyclist, a 20-year-old man, was taken to hospital, while the van driver, a 36-year-old man, was arrested for careless driving causing death.
Food delivery rider, hoping to earn the incentive
Mr Jason Tan, the man who passed away, was a foodpanda food delivery rider.
According to the victim’s 33-year-old brother, Jeremy Tan, the victim decided to go to work that day because he was hoping to earn an incentive offered to riders and he needed to fulfil just 13 more orders to obtain it.
MP Yeo Wan Ling: Platform incentive scheme is not a game, it will affect PHV drivers’ lives leh!
“He has a kid coming soon and (he thought) if he had extra (money) it would be good. Nobody wants to have a kid and not be able to provide for them,” said the deceased brother when speaking to The Straits Times.
Just got married and a father-to-be
The victim and his wife, who is currently about three months pregnant, had just gotten married on 5 March this year and they lived in Woodlands with Tan’s parents and his two siblings.
The couple had known each other since they were classmates in primary school and were together for about six years.
On the day of the incident, despite being urged by his wife not to go to work that day since it was late when he woke up at 9am instead of at 7am, the victim insisted on going to work as he wanted to earn more money because he had a baby coming soon.
The child will be the first grandchild in the family.
The late Mr Tan’s elder brother has since taken to Facebook to appeal for witnesses of the accident to step forward, as the family hopes to find closure after finding out what happened that day.
https://www.facebook.com/xJtwtx/posts/10159579384058476
Gig economy workers NEED to be protected
This unfortunate incident has once again shown the need that our gig economy workers need to be protected.
Should more protection be given to Self-Employed Person and freelancers like our delivery riders?
Recently there have been so many reports of food delivery riders getting into accidents, some even lost their lives. This goes to show that the nature of their work puts them in a dangerous environment which requires protection such as medical benefits and insurance coverage – and yet these are not provided by the platforms that hire them because they are considered Self-Employed Persons (SEPs) or freelancers.
This puts them on the losing end leh.
This is why this NTUC keeps fighting and pushing for more protection to be given to these workers. Because one life lost is too many.
Our condolences to Mr Jason Tan’s family and friends. May they find strength during this difficult time.
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