BILL NUMBER: S6270A
SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring
delivery businesses to factor compliance with certain vehicle and traf-
fic laws when assigning workers to deliver items
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To ensure that biker safety is properly considered in delivery app algo-
rithms.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one: Provides a short title.
Section two: Provides definitions, requires the consideration of worker
safety in assigning routes, provides enforcement.
Section three: Provides for the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The use of limited use motorcycles, colloquially known as mopeds, has
drastically increased across the past year, especially New York City.
Unfortunately, this takeover has come with a rise in vehicular accidents
resulting in injuries for both the riders and pedestrians. Far too many
accidents are the result of careless behavior of moped drivers, and the
consequences are well documented and sometimes fatal.
For delivery companies that employ or contract with workers who use
these mopeds, speed is the priority. Drivers are rewarded with tips and
algorithmic preference for completing deliveries with the greatest
speed, regardless of how safely they drive on the streets. This results
in drivers going the wrong way, speeding, or riding on sidewalks.
These companies ignoring safety in favor of speed puts all pedestrians
and bikers at risk. Companies that use algorithms to assign deliveries
must switch this order of priority in favor of safety, and this bill
requires that the safety of the biker and of pedestrians are adequately
accounted for in delivery algorithms. Safety features for example, a
biker's propensity to ride the wrong way on a one-way street must be
weighted at least as much as any factors relating to speed and safety.
Not only Is this Information easy to track, delivery apps already have
most of it. Bikers are already closely tracked through GPS and this bill
only requires them to re-process data already in their possession.
This bill is fairly common sense delivery apps should not economically
incentivize their bikers to violate the law.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.