Compulsory traffic safety education for food and parcel deliverymen began in Pudong yesterday as police continue to combat traffic offenses from this group.

Currently, all new recruits of Meituan, Ele.me and Dada will go through lectures from traffic police before they begin work, with the scheme expected to be expanded to all delivery businesses later.

The first classroom is in Weifang community, and more will be opened in other parts of the new area, police said.

Liu Wenxuan, an officer who gave a lecture yesterday, said the deliverymen will learn the most relevant traffic rules and see a lot of video clips of traffic offenses. “Our lectures feature an introduction to common traffic signs because we found that many deliverymen are not familiar with them,” he said.

Zhong Hai, 21, from the southwestern province of Sichuan who joined Meituan as a food deliveryman just last week, said the lectures were helpful. “Every day before we go on work, the team leader reminds us of the rules, but the police give more professional instructions.”

Zhong who comes from a small town said he finds Shanghai’s traffic perplexing.

He recounted that last week at the intersection of Nanquan Road and Zhangyang Road, he was riding his e-bike to cross the street when the green light was on for pedestrians, but he was stopped by a police officer there.

“He was patient enough to explain to me that I broke the traffic law because e-bikers can only ride through green lights for motor vehicles if no traffic lights for bikes and e-bikes are at the crossroads,” he said.