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By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
Petone cycling postie Peter Zajkowski says cars backing out of driveways are the number one danger facing his creed and asks locals to take care when driving onto the road. ?New safety vests have been great to increase our visibility in the street, but you see some places where there is a very small gap for bikes to go through, like in passing buses, or people forced to move over ? there?s danger there,? he says. Around 80 per cent of postal deliveries are done by bike and the major cause of injuries for posties are vehicles, dogs and hard-to-reach letterboxes. ?In the game for just 16 months Mr Zajkowski has already had his fair share of iconic postie-versus-dog scenarios. ?It was coming at me up a steep hill, rumbling toward me, this black cross. ?Lucky I moved my foot and he took a big chunk out of the pannier, the carry bag at the back. ?You have to stop peddling, because the legs moving around and around gets them excited, then try and get the bike between you and the dog ? It happens quite a lot actually,? he says. New Zealand Post says postie injury numbers have halved one year on from the introduction of new high-viz safety gear. ? NZ Post?s General Manager Postal Delivery Matt Riordan says bright yellow vests, helmets and panniers were provided for NZ Post?s cycling posties in April last year. ? ?Since April 2008 we?ve had 50 incidents that resulted in time off work for Posties, and in the same time period the year before there were 106 such incidents. ? ?We?re thrilled to see this injury rate for posties falling so markedly and we?d like to thank local communities for playing their part and looking out for posties - especially on the road,? Mr Riordan says. Mr Zajkowski says driveways are the menace of all posties, especially when there is no vision from the property onto the road. He often runs into some interesting happening on his round. ?I had to push one guys Ute a few times to get it going, because there are not many people just biking around in the middle of the day. ?He left me a can of V in the letterbox the following day,? he says. There are perks to the job in summer, when eight hours of sunshine can bless their afternoons. ?In winter you survive, I wear polyprops, but we just think of the posties in Invercargill with chains on, going through the snow, and it?s not so bad.? Postal delivery has changed considerably, becoming less letter focused and more parcel orientated with the likes of Trademe and Amazon. ?They are much harder to deliver, coming in all different shapes and sizes.? He says post code changes are good but not enough people know the correct ones for their own houses. ?They might live in Moera, but keep writing the code for Alicetown,? says Mr Zajkowski. NZ Post say in the past three months there has been a spate of incidents involving cars backing out of driveways and hitting posties. ? ?There have been four accidents ? including one where a Postie was knocked off their bicycle. ? ?You get people taking off out of their driveways at 20km an hour ? that?s dangerous for all the people using the footpath, not just Posties. ?? ?Even when the injuries don?t appear to be serious on the surface, it can be very distressing to be knocked off your bike and get cuts, scrapes and bruises when you?re carrying out your job,? Mr Riordan says. ? ? ? ? ?
