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There's been a sudden influx of "drivers for hire." For pizza businesses and Chinese takeout restaurants, we have the old standby delivery trucks. Expanding at-home delivery services has become a new way for grocery stores to make money.
During the pandemic, an avalanche of stay-at-home product orders resulted in a surge in these types of delivery drivers. In addition, passenger transportation options such as Uber have been steadily increasing. Other old standbys, such as FedEx and UPS, are still around.
There will be an increase in the number of delivery-type drivers on our roads at time progresses. It can't be avoided. One issue with this sudden flood of delivery services is how frequently these delivery drivers break traffic laws and drive in an unsafe manner.
Residents in otherwise peaceful neighborhoods frequently report delivery drivers who brazenly ignore traffic laws. Beyond speeding and running stop signs, often these drivers are in a hurry. Therefore, they park wherever they can to unload their cargo.
Huge tire ruts in their yard might easily perplex vigilant property owners. Delivery drivers will also make quick turnarounds using driveways. Nevertheless, even when a resident gets ticked off at an annoying delivery driver, there should be a level of civility when confronting them.
Recently, a bizarre confrontation happened in Washington state. A FedEx driver was berated for turning around in a man’s driveway. The driver was hailed for his professionalism, and the driveway owner was bemoaned as a racist.
A TikTok user’s footage of the incident went viral. Sure, the foul language used to attack the FedEx driver was totally unnecessary. It was inappropriate. Towards the end of the verbal assault, the conversation turned into the man tossing around racial slurs.
The owner of the driveway was wrong. But was the FedEx driver some kind of hero just because he acted professionally? Was there any additional information missing that triggered the property owner’s foul-mouthed tirade?
There was a direct insinuation that the homeowner was made about “how” the FedEx driver was operating his truck. When considering the references the owner made about “maintaining his driveway”, there’s a reasonable chance the FedEx driver was tearing up his property.
In fact, the driveway in question was gravel. The owner of the driveway insisted, “If I see this f**king van doing it again, there's going to be hell to pay.” What was the van doing? It seems unlikely that such a crazed response would be triggered by simply turning a FedEx van around.
In all honesty, there’s probably a lot more to this story than just a vulgar bigot attacking a FedEx driver for turning his truck around. In fact, there are probably a number of residents who live in peaceful neighborhoods who are equally tired of abusive delivery drivers.
Nonetheless, there comes a point where judicious use of better judgment needs to be used. The bombardment of F-bombs and racial slurs used by the driveway owner did nothing to garner public support for his cause. In fact, it turned what might have been a bad actor into a hero.