The average Indian road user is fairly ‘dheet’ or obstinate about traffic violations. In the head of that road user, the rule of law is a more of a tentative suggestion; not a tenet to be followed. Traffic violations are more the rule than the exception on Indian roads. The Indian police authorities have had to come up with some innovative and eye-catching ways to make people obey traffic rules:
Shah Rukh Khan has made that arms outstretched pose his own. The Assam police adroitly used it to grab eyeballs and to send out the #FollowTrafficRules message.
While King Khan has used his signature pose to romance many leading ladies and sing the most romantic of songs, he feels that this is the “best message” that this pose every conveyed!
The police authorities of Bangalore used this eye-catching method to encourage people to wear a helmet: with the help of Lord Ganesh. Here we see photos of a man dressed up as the elephant-headed god to send out a message to wear a helmet – so that they don’t need a prosthetic head replacement!
I learned to drive in Ahmedabad and can proudly say that I can drive anywhere in the world, thanks to this. Needless to say, Ahmedabad traffic is unpredictable, chaotic and utterly hopeless. The police there decided to take the help of the God of Death, Yamraaj to send out the message of safe driving.
He decided to make his own loss become an inspiration to others. When the Banglore police got in touch about playing Yamraj, Veeresh Muttinamath agreed. He had lost his brother to an accident where a helmet could have saved his life – he now wants to try and stop others from making that same mistake.
They used visuals of the recently released Tom Cruise film to drive home the point of safe riding and helmet use, saying that it would not be 'mission impossible' to catch and fine violators.
The traffic police there carried out a mission to increase awareness about wearing a helmet – by distributing free helmets and by offering roses to those who were wearing them. One man who was wearing a helmet duly received a rose, but later got into trouble with his wife who refused to believe that the rose was a gift from the police!
In Indore, this cop used an innovative way to catch the eye of road users. He seems to be enjoying doing the moon-walk; certainly, people are amused by it all… if a few more decide to follow the rules, that’s just great!
Public urination is a disgusting reality in our country. Rather like Pavlov’s dog, many Indian men seem compelled to urinate each time a smelly wall or corner presents itself. Home owners, colony residents and building managers often use religious symbols and pictures to dissuade people from letting loose a stream of paan, or urine. Sometimes even this wouldn’t work; so, the Hyderabad police started the Shame Garland event. The police would go and put garlands around the neck of public urinators – now I know this is not a traffic violation, but it does impact road users... plus is always good to see some Gandhi-giri in action, wouldn’t you say?
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