What will you do if you are a Keeta delivery driver, and suddenly received a notification on your mobile from Keeta while your car or motorcycle is moving? Will you answer the notification, or ignore it – either it’d cost you your job, or not, right?
For Joe, a Keeta delivery driver, he would answer the notification even if his vehicle is moving along traffic.
But, this move may not have cost him his job, but it surely cost him his life.
Now, he lies bed-ridden in Tai Po Hospital in Tai Po as he suffered from a crash after looking at his mobile amidst on-going traffic.
“Don’t count on him being able to walk again, it’s impossible,” his wife Yee told Ridesharingforum.com.
He cannot walk, and is caught in an insurance purgatory he does not know how to re-pay.
The accident, injury
Here’s what happened: The victim, Joe, was plying the So Kwun Po Road roundabout in Sheung Shui when a notification, an order notification, popped out on his mobile, then a shrill audio cue.
It’s a matter of life and death at the minimum as this point. If he did not answer it right away, he’d lose tasks, and he might get penalized for ignoring it, so he did check the notification before even thinking he should have parked his vehicle first on the side, but maybe the road circumstances do not allow this.
But, before he knew it, he slammed into a broken-down car in front of him, then he fell to the ground. The injury was worse than a basketball player getting injured on the court. He could not move.
Joe may have only sustained minor surface injuries, but doctors stated he broke his neck, compressing the intervertebral disc between the third and fourth segments of his spinal cord, causing near-complete paralysis. Paralysis. Says a lot about why he cannot move.
This accident has left what appears to be an indelible tattoo mark in his life.
The road to recovery was pretty fast, though, since then, he’s able to twitch his middle and ring finger, and flex his left leg, but still suffers from violent involuntary muscle spasms and gets pins and needles in seemingly random places. Something related to the nervous system for this 54-year-old.
Yee was told that the damage to his spine is largely permanent, and don’t twitch, but they are also saying that he will remain paralyzed for the rest of his life. Sadly.
His case had labor activities to call for action and accountability to Keeta.
What does Keeta have to say?
Plus, the hefty hospitalization bills. Joe is entitled to insurance, but the entire process of claiming this remains a red tape in Hong Kong, China.
Even Keeta does not have clear official rules on road accidents involving its drivers. Do a Google search, and you’d barely find concrete information. Aside from a report in the South China Morning Post quoting Keeta.
According to SCMP correspondents, Keeta provides group personal accident insurance to all registered couriers. The policy covers accidents that happen during delivery duties or within a specific commuting window. Since couriers are legally classified as self-employed independent contractors, they do not receive standard statutory labor compensation. Instead, they rely on this platform-provided commercial insurance policy.
What are your thoughts? Be sure to leave your comments, and violent reactions here on RSF! ‘Til then!