HOT TOPICS
SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES
Traffic police - why stand and deliver?
Written By silkboard - 5 June, 2008
Traffic Bangalore Police BTRAC Analysis Enforcement productively
Was driving my F-I-L's Santro the other day when I was stopped by one of those police parties. 5 of them, settled under a thick tree. Half of them waiting to stop unsuspecting vehicles, the other half busy 'punishing' the 'successful' catches. I never get stopped when driving bigger cars, but the 9 year old santro 'fit' their criteria.
After an exhaustive round of questions and document-parades, it turned out that Santro's emission certificate had recently expired. Alright, time to take the 'punishment' now, I was kind of excited while being whisked away to the 'punishing' side of the road. I was polite, and accepted my 'crime'. I was shown a xerox-ed sheet that said my fine would be Rs 600. Fine said I, though I recalled not seeing any number higher than Rs 500 on the BTP website. Next, I showed them my wallet, which was empty and told them that the purpose of my short drive was to fill it at the nearby ATM. I asked to be pardoned, my good luck that I was obliged, though the parting shot was, "if you have any love (preeti) for us, please do return and (waapas barowaaga) share something".
Well, I do love them. But I have no love for this stand and deliver stuff. Teasing deserving-or-not bikers and old-car owners for vehicle documents - what exactly is its worth and purpose? Uncover vehicle theft? Or is there a theory that says those who are careless with RTO documents are more likely to break traffic rules?
5 of them can do policing wonders if they mingle and move with the traffic and catch those umpteen wrong-siders, or zigzag drivers. I bet you that if one of them sits near the new Marathahalli bridge for 30 minutes everyday, and notes down numbers of vehicles doing more than the posted speed limit of 30 kmph (!), we would save lives of a few soon-to-be-hit pedestrians (just you wait).
I am curious as to why is it that they even consider using this inefficient stand-and-deliver method. Not enough budget to pay for petrol/diesel to keep a good number of them mobile? Not enough 'power' or authority to catch and fine folks for things that are 'hard' to prove (Ex: can't fine me for over=speeding without a radar gun report for proof) ? How are they incentivized, how are they measured for performance? There must be some reasons that I want to understand.
Bangalore Police recently acquired some modern interceptor vehicles, but will just 6-8 of those be enough? What is it that prevents Bangalore Traffic police from using each of their bikes or jeeps as 'interceptors'?
[PS: this is a curiosity post, and not a rant. I think we don't understand the workings of traffic police that well. Let us develop it via some knowledge sharing here]
[Pics: The blackberry master cop, and the mobile printer they use to print the records]
COMMENTS
bangalore-guy - 5 June, 2008 - 19:01
I was on my bike in Jayanagar and was stopped for the usual paper checking.. I had renewed the insurance just two days back and was unfortunately not carrying a copy of the new document. I tried my best to convince them but they were adamant. I even offered my DL and said keep this and I will come back with the document. But they wanted me to leave the bike and go.. and even mocked me by offering to pay for auto. If only I had the time..
Anyways, I was on my way to ATM so walked all the way to the ATM and handed the guy the fine amount of 500 rs. Again mentioning that I have renewed the insurance two days back.. he then offered me Rs 300 back and said fine go !
This was my moment of glory, in front of all his subordinates and other public. I refused and did so loudly and asked him to give me a receipt. He was certainly not amused. But I was happy that I made a point not only to him but even to other people around him.
http://clean-and-green.blogspot.com
blrsri - 6 June, 2008 - 01:16
The photo of the officer looks familiar..I was also stopped and my emission was outdated last time around ..these blokes were quite funny and very easy going..asked him a pardon and he said dont pay the actual fine..pay something minimal he said..
He asked 200 and he gave me a printed receipt for that working with his black berry and a remote printer..I waz happy but later realised that the crime printed was jumping a signal and the fine was for 100 Rs!
Traffic Police - Another Angle
Naveen - 6 June, 2008 - 05:22
SB - Interesting Stuff !
The chances of violations may be lower with the bigger cars, perhaps as per BTP's staistics, since they dont check them anyway ! Maybe this is how they justify this & consider it not "worth" their efforts to check them, or is there more to this ?
This is, in my opinion incorrect & invalid. All vehicles must be checked, irrespective of their length or class or cadre. This is again playing into the hands of the Car lobbies. This is a new entity - the "Big Car Lobby", an invisible entity beneath the surface, I guess. Yesterday, an audi was passing recklessly along airport rd (old), & though the cop saw it at agaram rd jn, he was too lazy to make the effort to note down his number or rise from his perch beneath the shelter.
I think they only "Stand & deliver" because there are no incentives whatsoever for better enforcement. In Mumbai, they once had a program to reward cops who met a certain criteria of booking x no. of vehicles a month, or some such. Though successful in bringing about fear of the cop on the roads, it had been dismantled at that time, but it changed the perception of the cop on the streets. Maybe we need something like this here as enforcemnt is outright silly.
traffic cops - certification based rather than offense based
Vasanth - 6 June, 2008 - 07:36
Well, our cops are mostly certificate based instead of offense based. There will be n number of vehicles emitting smoke a lot, but, if they have emission test, they are passed on the other hand a 4 stroke petrol vehicle, which never can reach the emission levels mentioned by the Government, will be fined if they are not having emission certificate.
There will be 'n' number of people not following any traffic rules who will be not asked any question, whereas if somebody forgets to carry driver's license, even though they have it, they are fined heavily. This is our 'Indianised' traffic rules.
mcadambi - 5 June, 2008 - 18:32
Curiously, i too have observed that the police do not catch big cars. I drive a Tata Indigo LS and till date i have never been caught except for some parking fines - even if there is no "no parking" sign, it is still a "violation".
Police usually do not catch big cars in a high traffic road because there is no space to ask the cars to stop aside. Small cars, two wheelers, autos ok. And lorries and trucks are easy targets because none of the drivers would be aware of their rights under the Motor Vehicles Act or Local laws.
PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES
Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!