Food delivery to enhance courier safety: Shanghai police

Shanghai police have spoken with eight food delivery companies in the eastern Chinese city, demanding they strengthen the traffic safety management of their couriers.

Food delivery firms are being told to increase traffic safety management of their couriers. [Photo: Xinhua Daily Telegraph]

Local police stats show 76 food delivery drivers were injured or killed in traffic accidents across Shanghai in the first half of this year, among which 26 percent were from ele.me and Meituan, two leading food delivery firms in China which employ over 4 million couriers.

Food delivery services have developed rapidly in China. Research suggests it is now a 200 billion yuan (30 billion US dollar) industry. It's estimated that 150 million people in China use food delivery services.

Food delivery firms are being told to increase traffic safety management of their couriers. [Photo: Xinhua Daily Telegraph]

Food delivery drivers are under high pressure from their companies. They face company fines of 20 yuan for being late and upward of 200 yuan for receiving complaints. The more orders they take, the more commissions they can earn, leading to many of them ignoring traffic rules. It's not uncommon to see delivery drivers on their mobile phones while driving on the streets to check their orders.

To try to change this, a number of cities are taking steps to curtail this dangerous behavior. In the city of Shenzhen, delivery drivers will be suspended from work for a week, a month and a year if caught breaking traffic rules once, twice and three times respectively. Their companies will also be held accountable.