Another downside of the "gig economy". If he were a Postmates employee, this would be a work-related injury and they'd be paying.
He really shouldn't be using his phone while riding a bike though. Know your area and know your destination first. Postmates is sending their non-employees out on bikes on to streets with massive vehicles, with sometimes careless drivers, which can result in severe injury and death. It is probably best to be fully alert and capable of quick responses when sent to those areas.
No, seriously. Someone should make a map that graphs these incidents... like a crime heatmap.
A fellow I met in Kuala Lumpur told me they are starting "black lives matter", though the word "black" doesn't identify any particular ethnic group. Migrants from poorer islands/regions are more commonly targeted than locals, however. (Kuala Lumpur is quite wealthy, roughly US poverty level. However rural areas are significantly poorer.)
On the contrary, I think that would be a good way to address the problem. I imagine you'd get more pressure from the community if customers called up to order and were told, "sorry, we don't deliver to your neighborhood because the police have been known to assault our delivery couriers."
It depends on how much of the local population the frequent beatings affect. If it's only directly affecting a marginalized portion of the population, the rest might not notice. The point of this protest would be to reach additional people, if it increases the fraction of the population that's affected (directly or indirectly), it might just tip the balance.
The questions here are:
1) If Postmates knows that someone will, or may, be at risk due to following their instructions, should they still give those instructions to that person?
2) What liabilities does Postmates have when a person is injured after following their instructions?