Online Delivery Guys Seem Like They Own the City Roads! Cops to Crack Down on Rash Riding
Online Delivery Guys Seem Like They Own the City Roads! Cops to Crack Down on them after receiving complaints during the Police Commissioner’s Friday Phone-In programme
Mangaluru : We all have faced them everyday and pretty much at all times. The rash and dangerous riding by the food delivery crew on their two wheelers. Be it Swiggy, Zomato, UberEats or others, all of their delivery boys, even including a few girls, are known for their rash driving with little or no care to traffic rules and fellow road users- and don’t even care for the safety of the pedestrians. It is made worse by the companies offering 30 minutes or free offer if the delivery is delayed which only encourages such rash riding.
Even the quiet residential neighborhoods have not been spared by this menace. It is high time these companies take some responsibility in ensuring their staff adhere to traffic rules. I am sure it is no different in any other city. It is also the competition of delivering food earlier between all those food delivery apps. It is us the consumer who do not think before raising a complaint of food not being delivered in 30 minutes as promised. These delivery guys may earn good or do not earn enough and with all the allowances and penalties in place, they do everything possible to deliver the food on or before time- but by riding rash and putting their lives and others in danger. I am not denying that they don’t ride safe but it is not just because they are crazy, it also because of the market and its consumers that they work for.
You can also see these guys riding their two-wheelers with a earphone plugged into their ears and continuously talking on the mobile phone while making rounds at a cross road. For sometime I couldn’t figure out in which direction he would head as he was taking instructions and changing directions and in the meanwhile, he was blocking my way!- and this was my experience just yesterday near Bendore-well. This is a menace and a driving risk. And these type of incidences are very common among these guys. Especially, they are found on junctions while following instructions over the phone. And yes, many of them are without a helmet too. The company executives should strictly insist on their employees to follow strict traffic rules, and not to others lives in jeopardy.
On Friday, 23 August during the phone-In programme, which is the 124th Phone-In programme initiated by the then Police Commissioner P S Chandrashekar, and the second one handled by Dr P S Harsha after assuming the post of Post of Mangaluru Police Commissioner two weeks ago. Among the 26 callers who called in with their civic grievances on Friday, two among them were about the rash riding and illegal parking of the online delivery boys working for a bunch of these online delivery firms.
In response to these two callers, police commissioner P S Harsha assured that action will be initiated soon on these rash riders, and that he already directed DCP (Traffic) Manjuanth Shetty to interact with these online delivery boys and issue them stern warning and cation if they failed to break the traffic rules. He also directed the cops to stop all the rash riders and fine them, and also give them a stern warning not to ride recklessly again. I hope so?
Among other complaints during the 23 August phone-in programme were- all the seized vehicles by the police parked in front of their respective police stations are creating inconveniences to the public; Bus no 61 plying between Mangaluru Junction Railway station and Kodical recently have cut three trips in the afternoon, also bus no 13 D plying between State Bank and Pachhaanady, and bus no 19 also have been skipping their regular trips, thereby putting commuters in hardship; a few old trees with their branches hanging on to the road are posing danger to the motorists and pedestrians.
“A few police are indulging themselves in bribery, when they stop motorists for traffic violations”, said a caller and in response Police Commissioner Harsha said, Ïn that case you could bring that to my notice or higher police officials or you could directly contact Anti Corruption Bureau authorities”. Other complaints were about auto-rickshaw drivers charging one and a half extra on regular fare during daytime from Shakthinagar area; concrete mix hauling trucks parked near construction sites creating nuisance for other motorists and pedestrians; police should remove all the ‘No Parking’ signs erected by businesses, even though the spots belong to MCC; also vehicles are being towed from where there is no parking signs-the caller insisted police erect a no parking signs so that motorists know; were among other complaints.
In response to all the 26 complaints received, police commissioner Dr Harsha assured the callers that necessary steps would be taken to rectify the civic and traffic related issues. Manjunath Shetty- ACP-Traffic; Balakrishna K- Assistant Sub Inspector CCRB; Guruduth Kamath- Traffic Inspector South police station, Mohan Kottari- Police Inspector North; Vinay A Gaonkar- ACP-CCRB; Gopalkrishna Bhat- Traffic Inspector East; Purshotham – Police Head Constable, and Rajavarma Ballal, president of Bus Owner’s Association were present during the phone-in programme.