Uber Eats worker Vasu Virda was charged on July 31, 2024, for using an electronic device while stopped at a light – with a police officer spotting him tap the screen of his phone twice.
Virda, however, maintains that he tapped only once, claiming that he received a delivery offer and tapped the screen to accept it.
As reported by Global News, Madam Justice W.A. Baker wrote: “I accept that he was doing his job and operating as safely as he could within the parameters of his job.
“However, I am required to uphold the law as it is written.
“Mr. Virda makes a number of submissions that the law is not fair to people like Uber Eats drivers and taxi drivers who require their devices as part of their jobs.
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Some critics have said the law needs to change, with Kyla Lee with Acumen Law stating: “The law says you are allowed one touch to end, accept, or initiate a phone call on your device, but you are not allowed one touch for any other purpose, including accepting an Uber Eats order, or for Uber Eats pickup or delivery.
“The problem with that is that these two actions are no more distracting than each other, but the government has seen fit to prohibit one of them without prohibiting the other and has provided no explanation why this should be the case.”