Shenzhen traffic police, in cooperation with online food delivery service platforms, will impose a three-level punishment mechanism for violations by food delivery employees.
Delivery persons will be given a one-week suspension for their first traffic violation, a one-month suspension for the second and a year for the third.
Police will share the violation information with food delivery service providers and announce the three companies with the most violations to the public monthly. Food delivery companies will be held liable if their employees use unlicensed or illegal e-bikes and vehicles to provide food delivery services and are the cause of an accident.
According to a news conference yesterday, traffic police will include information on couriers working for food delivery service companies on its monitoring platform and require that companies unify their respective uniforms, working cards, vehicle serial numbers and credit management systems for employees. The employees must wear helmets while delivering food and the companies must purchase insurance for the employees and vehicles.
Police also require service providers not to use oversized food delivery vehicles, to educate their employees about traffic rules such as carrying passengers, running red lights, traveling in the wrong direction, using motorist lanes and engaging in other business.
According to regulations, e-bike drivers who violate rules on restricted roads or during restricted time periods will be fined 2,000 yuan (US$300). Those operating bikes that fail to meet national standards will be fined 1,000 yuan. E-bike drivers using motorist lanes will be fined 500 yuan, and 50 yuan for going in the wrong direction or 20 yuan for running a red light.
The city reported 311 accidents involving e-bikes between January and July this year, resulting in 52 deaths and 369 injuries. The number of accidents rose by 35 percent over the same period last year. The number of injuries rose by 55.7 percent, or 132 people, despite the number of fatalities dropping by 38.1 percent or 32 people, compared with the same period last year. Among them, four accidents, resulting in two deaths and three injuries, involved food delivery companies.
So far this year, police have checked a total of 33,459 violations made by food delivery employees, accounting for 12.1 percent of the violations made by e-bike riders.
