Chennai traffic police nets Swiggy, Zomato riders in awareness drive on rule violation

Signal violations topped the list with 581 cases being recorded in what the city police termed an ‘awareness drive’ conducted on Wednesday. Failure to adhere to line discipline, not wearing a helmet and others made for the rest of the violations.

The traffic police said the imperative of quicker delivery placed pressure on the drivers, leading to a higher number of violations: “It is noticed that most of these mobile app-based food delivery services promise delivery of food at a very short time, pressurising the food delivery partners to drive swiftly,” said the release.

The traffic police said the “nature of payment terms,” meaning an incentive-driven payment model forced drivers to flout traffic rules while on their deliveries. “It is also noticed that, due to the nature of payment terms, most of the food delivery partners are flouting traffic rules like signal violation, wrong side driving, driving without helmet, using mobile handsets while driving, and over speeding in an attempt to earn more by delivering quicker, endangering their lives and the lives of other motorists,” said the release.

Queries have been sent to Zomato, Swiggy, and Dunzo on the statement by the city traffic police on it’s special awareness drive on traffic rule violations by food delivery companies.

Earlier, the city traffic police had met with representatives from Zomato to discuss, among other things, its 10-min delivery promise. The police had told Zomato to make prior disclosure about execution before carrying out the quick delivery project in Chennai.

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On its 10-min delivery promise, Zomato had said: “If Zomato Instant works as planned, it will be a true innovation that will drive the future of how people consume food,” said a Zomato spokesperson. “We just hope we are able to create more jobs and encourage more blue-collar workers to join our fleet, where they earn more and are able to achieve more stability and control in their lives. The service is due to take off from four stations in Gurgaon next month.”