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A new Australian retail delivery service is on a recruitment drive for drivers, but has a preference for females to apply. 

The service's founder and MD Carl Popovic said that women are safer drivers compared to men. 

"Men are up to three times more likely to be caught drunk driving or speeding than women.

"Statistically, women are involved in fewer road rage incidents, fewer serious accidents and are less likely to get a ticket," he said. 

Popovic's position is informed by statistics from Belgian road research company Vias, which states that women take fewer risks than men when driving and are less likely to be involved in serious accidents.

Vias' statistics show that women make up 44% of minor injuries resulting from accidents, but only 34% of serious injuries and 23% of fatalities. 

Similar numbers were found in a South Australian Government study which showed that in 2013 women made up a larger percentage of minor injuries (53%) in accidents than men, but made up smaller percentages in serious injuries (36%) and fatalities (30%). 

"The research shows that because of their nature, women drive more carefully," Popovic said. 

"Perhaps if more women were driving trucks and taxis, we would see less accidents and fatalities on the road. 

"In the case of [the delivery service], we are hoping to recruit as many female drivers as possible.

"We are calling on mums, grandmothers, female job seekers and students looking for flexible work," he said. 

The new delivery service promises to deliver products to consumers within two hours of order. 

Drawing inspiration from the Uber model, the service will link bricks-and-mortar retailers with a private driver network that will be available seven days a week, including evenings. 

"The process is simple to implement and intuitive," Popovic said.

"It works similar to Deliveroo and UberEats.

"Customers order online or in-store with their favourite retailer.

"When ordering online, the customer simply clicks ‘click and collect’ or 'eDelivery’ during the checkout process.

"The order is then readied at the store.

"Thanks to the integratable AI technology, the order is sent through to the system which then matches each order with the appropriate vehicle.

"Smaller packages can be delivered by a motorbike but larger packages may need a van or a truck.

"The system handles that on its own so the retailers themselves don’t have to worry about a thing.

"Then one of our drivers picks up the package from the store and delivers it to the customer’s door," he said. 

The development of the delivery service has been in the works for three years. 

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