A delivery executive in Bengaluru.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Traffic indiscipline among delivery boys in the city has reached alarming levels, with the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) registering a staggering 1.46 lakh cases between 2023 and 2025.
Data accessed by DH reveals a continuous rise in violations, particularly in the high-density tech and commercial corridors. The total number of cases registered against delivery executives, who are often rushing to meet strict delivery deadlines, jumped significantly — from 30,968 cases in 2023 to 52,153 in 2024 and to 63,718 in 2025 (until November 15).
Police say the instant commerce rush is leading to frequent lapses in basic traffic rules, including wrong parking, wrong-side driving, signal jumping, riding on footpaths and not wearing helmets.
The BTP’s eastern division, encompassing areas like Whitefield, KR Puram, Indiranagar and Halasuru, is the epicentre of the crisis, accounting for the highest share of violations, with a total of 73,971 cases over the three-year period. The division saw its case count nearly double year-on-year.
The Whitefield subdivision alone registered over 25,000 cases in three years, indicating immense traffic pressure and a high volume of delivery activity driven by the area’s IT sector campuses and residential apartments.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, East) Sahil Bagla noted that major hotspots in his division had registered a high number of cases. To counter this rising trend, police are regularly conducting special drives to address visible violations.
The perils of instant commerce
The officer noted the 10-minute delivery pressure forces agents to break traffic rules, and suggested that a better solution must come from the companies or aggregators themselves.
The South Division also reported a major spike, with 44,313 cases. Areas under Mico Layout, Adugodi, and HSR Layout traffic police station limits consistently reported high numbers.
A significant hurdle was presented by e-bike violators. Since these vehicles are often treated like bicycles, they do not come under the Motor Vehicles Act, meaning the police cannot take action or fine those riders for certain violations, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, South) Gopal M Byakod.
The officer said a recent meeting chaired by the police commissioner had given instructions to food and delivery aggregators regarding traffic violations. Instructions were also issued at the police station level. Stringent measures like driver licence suspension and vehicle impoundment against repeat offenders are likely to be discussed in future meetings, he noted.
What delivery execs say
A food delivery executive questioned the need for risking lives to get Maggi or atta delivered in 10 minutes. “Food and groceries are not emergency items like medicines or ambulances that have to be delivered within a short time,” he pointed out.
According to him, “We are constantly worried about time. The company monitors us constantly, and if we are late even by a minute, the next delivery allocation is affected, which means less money for the day,” he added.
Cause for concern
2023 - 30,968 cases
2024 - 52,153
2025 (till Nov 15) - 63,718
The customer gets a delivery window when the parcel will be delivered and if you go out of those windows you get fined for it. The company tells us to maintain a minimum of 18 deliveries a day to be eligible for hikes. To do that we have to race against time on the road.A delivery agent
Pressure for ‘instant’ delivery
A senior traffic police officer said that “riders are often forced to take shortcuts which involves riding on the wrong side or jumping signals in order to save time”. “While we understand their need to earn road safety cannot be compromised. The focus is now on strict enforcement combined with dialogue with the aggregator companies to embed safety training into their systems.”