Uber Eats driver fined for accepting order on phone says B.C. law needs refresh [Video]

An Uber Eats driver who was ticketed for tapping his phone to accept an order and then had his distracted driving acquittal overturned on appeal wants B.C.’s traffic laws amended to reflect the use of technology in the gig economy.

Vasu Virda was stopped at a red light in Vancouver on July 31, 2024 when he tapped the screen of his phone app to answer an order request, a delivery offer he said came with a window of only five seconds to accept.

A police officer caught Virda in the act and ticketed him under the Motor Vehicle Act for using an electronic device while driving.

“I believed that I was right in that situation,” Virda told Global News from India, where he is currently on vacation. “I was just doing my job. I was not doing any kind of distraction or something like that and that’s why I started fighting the ticket.”