[ads1485]

Originally Posted by Akshay1234

Great initiative! Seriously. I've been following Stop a Douchebag for a while and I was hoping someone would do this in India.

Thanks, Akshay! As I've said before (and I can't say this enough), just your words of support go a long way in powering us forward.

The more I interact with these people, the more I understand how deep rooted the rot is.

We constantly crib about the government, the cops, the state of roads etc (I was also one of those people), but we fail to realise, that in a democracy, the leaders are a direct reflection of the masses. Only once we begin to change our mentality on a fundamental level, will the change begin to reflect at the top.

We usually go in two's or three's...unfortunately, there are not too many people who are willing to undertake these shenanigans, and I don't blame them either.

We've met a few violent kooks, but not encountered anyone with "affluenza" as yet. Truth be told, I'm kinda curious to see how that meeting will unfold.

As for enlisting the help of cops, that is certainly on the cards and once the movement picks up steam and the word gets out, we intend to approach the top cops in the city.

The support of young politicians like Aditya Thackeray would be invaluable. Let's hope we make some headway soon.

We can't go beyond "asking" people to stop doing what they're doing at the moment, because we don't have any official status. Once that happens, I would like nothing better than to prowl the streets with a fistful of stickers, giving Mamoos their due

[WorkingGuru]

Very very nice initiative. We should all do this in our cities.

Need some tips :

1) What to do when someone questions our legal authority to intervene ?

2) How to prevent any serious escalation ? I'll openly admit, I neither have a large build, nor do I have the courage to face possible goons. ( I'll probably prefer to do this in a locality that's far from my house, where I can't be tracked down from. )

3) How to convince cops that we're not vigilante / "social workers" who're trying to cause law and order issues ? Is it better to simply assist traffic cops ?

[Maverick1977]

This is very good initiative and I will be more than happy to even inform you of pockets in Mumbai where you will find affluent people who act like... less said the better.

Citing a personal experience few days back. A BIG Audi royally cuts into my lane at the Oberoi Mall (in Mumbai) junction. I don't bother because I have learnt that no amount of honking or flashing lights is going to make them change.

However what really got me fuming was seeing the same Audi parked in 'Handicap' parking inside the mall basement, right next to the lifts where a security was standing. I inquired with him if the person was handicapped in any way but he very sheepishly told me that he couldn't say anything as it was a BIG car. Not surprising as the poor fellow was only protecting his own job.

Then it dawned to me that the owner/driver had parked in the perfectly correct place. He was indeed a Handicap - only difference being that his handicap was his mindset and attitude. Sad but true!

[GKMahajan]

Originally Posted by ads1485

Hi All,

I live in Mumbai and I absolutely hate the state of traffic in the city.
..
..
Me and a couple of friends decided to do something about it.
..
..
The conclusions we drew were simple -

1. People violate traffic rules, because they are too inconsiderate and lazy to do the right thing.

2. The vast majority of traffic problems in the city, are due to the people themselves.

Dear ads1485,

My compliments! I am in Mira Road and I am with you..

I would like to share my two bits.

You say people violate rules for various reasons. Let me share a 'funny' incidence.

I was traveling on the Mumbai Pune Expressway, towards Pune. At the first toll plaza, a traffic police constable in full uniform asked for a lift. I agreed.

The fun started when we started to climb the ghats. ALL the lanes were occupied by trucks traveling at 10~20 kmph. I was driving patiently. However, just to pass some time when I asked him what he thought of trucks traveling in the 3rd (fast) lane - he replied that it was mostly KA trucks and that in Karnataka the rule was for the trucks to travel in that lane!!

I tactfully asked him about the boards put up by the police saying that trucks were to be in the left lane. He was blank!

My point is even the police do not seem to be aware of the basic rules!

Another case, which I came across on this site itself, was about Zoomcar/Miles cars being stopped by cops to check if the driver has commercial license!

Any way, best of luck in your venture. AND most important take maximum care of personal safety.

Regards,

Girish Mahajan

[ads1485]

Originally Posted by WorkingGuru

Very very nice initiative. We should all do this in our cities.
Need some tips :

ads1485 - Thanks WorkingGuru. As for your questions -

1. When someone does something that does not directly affect us, we just go up to them and ask them why they did it? An example would be spitting on the road. Whether they admit to their act or not, is up to them - we simply question it and move on. On the other hand, when someone is causing us direct problems, by say parking on a busy road, or blocking a u-turn, we not only question them, but also firmly ask them to move. In the latter case we are quite justified in asking them to stop doing what they are doing, since they are causing us trouble. We are well within our legal rights to stop another member of the public from causing us direct inconvenience/trouble. In any case, we make it point to not use foul language (even if the other person does) and absolutely not get involved in fisticuffs.

2. Serious escalation rarely happens...but it does happen. If you follow point # 1 above, it's a rare thing to see matters escalate beyond your control. Take basic precautions and use your common sense. For example, doing this in certain areas of Mumbai, without any official sanction, is a recipe for disaster. Move in a group of 2-3 people. Don't hesitate when you address someone. Be polite, yet firm. Don't harass people for the heck of it etc etc. Ultimately, there is a major element of "screw it, just do it" and you have to take the plunge.

3. We met quite a few cops while we were doing this. All of them were supportive of our endeavour. We even recorded a traffic cop ranting about people who like to bribe their way out of traffic offences. The traffic cops even offered to accompany us. This is not vigilantism, this is members of the public, standing up for their rights. All we are doing is SPEAKING UP.

Hope that helps!

Originally Posted by Maverick1977

Then it dawned to me that the owner/driver had parked in the perfectly correct place. He was indeed a Handicap - only difference being that his handicap was his mindset and attitude. Sad but true!

ads1485 - Thank you, Maverick1977! I like the way you think

Originally Posted by GKMahajan

My point is even the police do not seem to be aware of the basic rules!

ads1485 - Thanks, GKMahajan! I appreciate your support and concern for our safety

I wasn't aware that the cops on the expressway stretch were this ill-informed! That may explain the nightmarish traffic on the ghat section, where you are guaranteed to have at least 1 near death experience, every single time!

That said, I feel the Mumbai city cops are far more aware of the rules and regulations, since they are dealing with several offenders on a daily basis.

But you're right, ignorance of basic rules and common sense is a affliction that plagues pretty much everyone in our country.

[noopster]

Very nice initiative. I like the fact that you are direct yet civil and back off immediately once a driver accepts his wrongdoing and corrects it. More power to you!

Just a friendly warning though- Mumbaikars tend to be on the edge especially when traffic matters are concerned. So please be careful. It's matter of time before someone lashes out in frustration- camera or not.

[ads1485]

Originally Posted by noopster

Very nice initiative. I like the fact that you are direct yet civil and back off immediately once a driver accepts his wrongdoing and corrects it. More power to you!

Thanks for the support and encouragement, noopster

Yes, being direct, but civil certainly helps in making the person more conducive to correcting their mistake...plus it also gives them a way out of the embarrassment of being caught red handed. The aim, after all, is to improve the situation, not get into unnecessary confrontations.

As for the violence, we've had a few such encounters already...I guess it's part of the game, when you decide to do something like this. Though we've not had things get totally out of control, because we always try and be civil, even if the other person is being unruly. For a lot of these people, it's the blow to their ego, more than anything else, which causes them to react violently.

[earthian]

This is what we need. A movement. Congratulations! I had mulled upon capturing traffic violations and publishing them on social sites, but that is what i did. Mulled upon.
So great that you started this. Some of the advise given by some members is sound. Don't worry if some don't encourage.
Start a FB page. Paste the videos of those who don't feel ashamed even after you took the trouble to point out their mistakes or those who were offensive. Write to the PC and explain what you are doing. Write to the RTO and ask them if they would be able to take action against those who violate rules and affect safety if other users ( of the road) if evidence in the form of a video is given. It would help if you were given some (legal) protection Under some government notification.

The best case scenario is when the movement takes off with the passive rule followers joining it to take on the aggresive rule breakers. The worst? Business as usual.

[ads1485]

Originally Posted by earthian

Start a FB page. Paste the videos of those who don't feel ashamed even after you took the trouble to point out their mistakes or those who were offensive.

Thanks, earthian! There will always be detractors, but I'm quite pleasantly surprised to see that the vast majority of people are very supportive of this

Talking about detractors, just yesterday I heard back from someone criticising me for being a bully, by making a guy in the video move his bike away from the road, while he was in the process of eating a vada pao. Apparently disturbing a man snacking on a vada pao is something of a sacrilege.

Your suggestions are really good - I especially liked the one about starting a standalone FB page and posting shorter segments there. We are planning on starting an Instagram account also.

Thanks again for the kind words, please do share the video on your social media accounts so that the word spreads!

[W.A.G.7]

That's a nice initiative! It's fun to see the number of excuses people come up with, but don't know how to change their habits! As noopster said however, please be careful. There are a lot of bruised egos going around the streets and they will dump their frustration on the first person they can get hold of.

I just wish, more of these people would follow the rules rather than getting into arguments about how right they are.

[sumeethaldankar]

This is a nice initiative. I always think that traffic violating Indian drivers have a ‘Ambulance driver mentality’. If one has ever noticed that Ambulances they tend to zig zag in traffic, drive on the wrong side of the road, jump signals, use loud sirens to make the vehicle move in front of them so they can pass through etc all for a good cause. They are liable to do this because they have a life to save. It is seems ok for them to do all these things as they are emergency vehicles.

Now if you notice most traffic rule breakers will do all of the above for which I term them as Ambulance drivers. Whenever someone blocks my path while driving coming from the wrong side I sometimes feel like rolling down the window and asking those morons whether they are driving an ambulance and ferrying people to the hospital. I mean what is the rush and why these people do not have the patience to wait for a few more seconds and do things the right way. I think it’s high time such people are heavily penalized and sanitized to obey basic traffic rules.

[vikram31]

I think its a great initiative - How about you take the regn numbers of offenders and send the video to the RTO with a copy to the CM? You have their confession after all! I am myself thinking of getting a dash cam, recording offences on the road, taking down the regn number and just sending an anonymous dispatch to RTO and CM. If no reaction, will send this info to media. Thoughts bhpians?

[PraNeel]

Originally Posted by ads1485

Hi All,

I live in Mumbai and I absolutely hate the state of traffic in the city.

The main reason for a lot of problems, is the INCONSIDERATE, APATHETIC, SHORT SIGHTED & LAZY nature of people who drive, ride, cycle and even walk on the roads.

Me and a couple of friends decided to do something about it.

We took inspiration from the popular Russian Youth Movement - "Stop a Douchebag" and went around the city asking traffic rule violators, why they do what they do.

In a lot of instances, when we found people blatantly and flagrantly violating rules and being an all round menace, we asked them to stop what they were doing.

The conclusions we drew were simple -

1. People violate traffic rules, because they are too inconsiderate and lazy to do the right thing.

2. The vast majority of traffic problems in the city, are due to the people themselves.

Hats off to you guys for doing something about a problem and not cribbing about it. I have some observations from my own experience and some from your video:

1: Driving on the wrong side and justifying it is a fashion in India. This often causes traffic jams, accidents and fatalities as well.

2: Parking at one's will and place is done for convenience and to avoid parking charges. During night time cab drivers park their vehicles in the service lane, barely leaving space for one car. Imagine an employee facing a traffic jam in the middle of night because of this parking issue and a water tanker on high beam coming from the wrong side staring at you .

3: I have seen Russian Youth Movement - "Stop a Douchebag" videos and they turn unpleasant on many instances, but you guys remained calm and maintained composure.

4: I also noticed most of the people complied and even realized their mistake, however there were some who couldn't bother at all.

I have a suggestion, you guys should gather support through social media and other means to gather more volunteers. You can also take help of school children if possible. This will create more impact. There are platforms like "Better India" (http://www.thebetterindia.com/) who always support such noble initiatives.

Good Luck and please keep doing this.

[Ruchitya]

Please do not take any 'direct' action, as you mentioned, by pasting stickers on another person's property. It makes you a vandal, a different kind of nuisance to society.
To take this forward, you could probably start a facebook page (as earthian mentioned) where people post videos of such misdeeds, and hope to bring attention to this problem. Get your friends to contribute. It should gain a fair amount of popularity quite soon. Bangalore police have tried something on those lines, afaik.

[amitjha086]

The people who break traffic rules frustrate me. In my current city, Birgunj in Nepal, there are several bikers who ride on the wrong side of the road divider just to avoid a U-turn just a few meters away. I drive/ride straight to them, making them come to a halt and give them a piece of advice or two. I know this is not effective but well, something better than nothing.

Another stuff that I hate in this town is the way the traffic cops are so casual with the one-way-roads. They let the bicycles, tricycles and push-carts run the opposite way in a one-way-road. Isn't it a weird the rule applies only to motorized vehicles only when it should encompass all on the road?

A couple of months ago, I had to visit the government hospital at midnight to fetch a particular medicine which was unavailable at my hospital. I was nearing an intersection which straight on continued into a one-way-road. Unexpectedly, a KTM Duke came speeding and turned to its right without putting on the indicator. I slammed my brakes and avoided collision by a whisker. The bike sped away. There were five traffic cops with a patrol vehicle at that intersection. When I asked them to follow the bike, they just turned a deaf ear.

And the interesting story with one-way-alleys in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is that the traffic cops position themselves at the end of such alleys so as to charge the unaware new rider in the town a fine, of which the cops are officially entitled to a commission of 10%. Moreover, they do not have any signboards at the beginning of such roads.

I was thinking over last few weeks to write to the traffic office or visit them. Would be doing it soon.