[ads1485]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

I am not supporting those who violate traffic rules in town. Just stating that the yardstick remains the same for other offences too

ads1485 - Hi selfdrive, thank you for the kind words and support.

You are right, there is no distinction between traffic offences - wrong is wrong.

At present however, due to limited means, we are targeting only the most annoying and obvious violations. What you see in the video are the most rampant and frequent violations of traffic rules.

Speeding is another issue, but within the limits of a town like Mumbai, it is something of a rare occurrence to find people speeding, especially during daylight hours, simply because the density of traffic and people does not permit it.

Truckers changing lanes without warning, overtaking from the wrong side and throwing trash out of vehicles moving at high speed are other offences that plague me frequently, since I do a lot of highway/expressway driving. But like I said before, we'll get to those guys once we have more resources.

All that said, I also feel that almost every person in India, who drives a vehicle, is forced to violate rules at some level, simply to the humongous crowds and chaos that is present in almost every semi-developed area.
Overstepping the zebra and a few excess honks here and there, are an almost unavoidable consequence of driving on these roads, which no one can really avoid, even if they have the best intentions and try their level best to adhere to traffic rules.

So while we try to catch the most blatant offenders, we do have to exercise a sense of realism and not let our ideals overtake practical considerations.

I sincerely hope things take a turn for the better...this little initiative of ours is a step in that direction.

Originally Posted by krackr

Only problem is that they should not meet the same fate as such videos which we see on social media, get some comments, and that's about it.

ads1485 - krackr, I honestly feel that no step is too small or ineffective, when it goes to creating awareness.

Once people become aware and understand that there are others who have the same sentiments as them, the movement gathers momentum and a change in thinking is imminent.

The "likes" that you get on a dashcam video of someone violating rules, makes an impact, even if limited. I always feel that some impact, is better than no impact.

Every step counts.

Originally Posted by luvDriving

An excellent initiative and I wish you all the very best for success.

ads1485 - Hey luvDriving, thanks for the support!

As I've mentioned in previous replies, Pune is a different animal altogether...never have I seen so many people break traffic rules and create a nuisance for others, while being so gung-ho about it.

As for other people supporting, once awareness spreads, people will be more inclined to take direct action.

Like I've said before, one of the main things holding people back from confronting violators, is the fear of the unknown. By spreading awareness of the reality of it, the fear diminishes and people are more inclined to take action.

For the present (especially in Pune!), I'm just glad that people stand on the sidelines and stare at the proceedings, rather than sticking up for the offending party

Originally Posted by jaygeetee

Keep up the good work, in the least we can have some funny videos. I couldn't stop laughing when the rickshawala blamed his BAD LUCK for running into you twice and not being able to eat in peace

ads1485 - Thanks for the suggestions, jaygeetee.

As for rewarding the "good-guys," yeah totally. That sounds like a plan. Maybe give them a thumbs up on video for doing the right thing, or even give a thumbs up to violators who accept their mistake and remedy the situation without unnecessary drama.

Yes, the auto guy was funny...truth be told we had actually forgotten that we had stopped him from parking on a corner a short while ago. I guess it was really his not his day. But the purpose of putting that segment (& several others) was basically to illustrate this mentality of ours, which says that "if it's a short distance/time, then you can break whatever rule you want."

The humour is an important part - we need to engage people in order to spread the word. I'm glad you liked it!

Originally Posted by Mortis

My boss knows a higher up from the regular non traffic Police Dept, Ill see if I can set up something.
Till then stay safe and hit the gym a bit more to help you with the more aggressive offenders you might come across

ads1485 - Thanks, Mortis. Please do put the suggestion forward - if something good comes out of it, it would be really good.

In the meanwhile, we'll hit the gym and down a few protein shakes, just for good measure

[arunmichael]

Excellent Initiatives I must say and sincerely wish more people become a part of this movement and are there to support you. In India there are lot for fresh movements happening day in day out. However they do not stay for long. I hope and pray you guys have what it takes to stay.
A small suggestion though. When a person agrees that he had made a mistake and is willing to move his vehicle, if possible please do not continue asking him why he has done that in the first place. It can hurt their ego and can lead to unpleasant situations.
Best Wishes.

[alphadog]

Originally Posted by King_pin09

Wonderful thread, however based on my daily commute in Mumbai, I tend to disagree on your point no 1.

Road users are definitely inconsiderate, not only to others but also to themselves. It is not due to laziness, they tend to violate traffic rules. As far as I know, the genuine reasons for violating the rules are,

1. Knowledge – Zero, no idea of what the rules are and what they say (the only apparent knowledge they have all about is "Rules say Keep left", sadly they do not follow this one at least)
2. Attitude - I am smarter than the entire universe, I can get through from any direction. No need to follow others.

In addition to all these factors, an Individual's conduct on the road is strongly influenced by the proceeds of his day thus far viz., Work environment, wife, family tensions, childrens school and so on.

How very true!.Especially points 1, 2 and the conclusion.

There are a multitude of factors at play here,
Bad infrastructure.
poor roads and city/town planning.
Lack of basic traffic education at school and at home.
Too easy to get a license.
lack of proper law enforcement.
Biggest factor : Lack of regard for other road users, selfish and boorish mentality and sab chaltha hai attitude!.

We are progressing and things are changing, but extremely slowly. So, until the above issues are sorted, I shall continue to gently cuss under my breath, take a deep breath, think and second guess for the morons on the roads and try and keep me and my family safe on the roads. I may loose my sanity in the process, but thats a small price to pay I guess

[ankurchaturvedi]

Originally Posted by ads1485

ads1485 -

You are right, there is no distinction between traffic offences - wrong is wrong.

Thank you! Thank you very much for this. Direct action is what is needed with the Mumbai traffic. May i join you the next time you make such a video?

[ads1485]

Originally Posted by arunmichael

When a person agrees that he had made a mistake and is willing to move his vehicle, if possible please do not continue asking him why he has done that in the first place.

ads1485 - Hi arunmichael, thank you for the support and words of encouragement.

Yes, the endeavour is to continue and make this more of a mass movement, with official support. So far, things are on track. It is imperative that the word gets out, so like always, please share the video so that it can be seen by more people.

Thanks for the advice also - it is never our intention to needlessly harass anyone

Originally Posted by alphadog

We are progressing and things are changing, but extremely slowly. So, until the above issues are sorted, I shall continue to gently cuss under my breath, take a deep breath, think and second guess for the morons on the roads and try and keep me and my family safe on the roads. I may loose my sanity in the process, but thats a small price to pay I guess

ads1485 - alphadog, there are a multitude of labels that can be used to explain the behaviour of people on the roads of our country. The bottom line is the same - people do what they do, because they are inconsiderate and selfish.

As you may have noticed, we are not stopping people on technicalities and quizzing them about the finer aspects of driving, such as Road Signs and Speed Limits - All the violators in the video posted KNEW what they were doing was wrong.

Why?

Because when one drives on the roads, there are certain road etiquettes that one understands instinctively.

Parking on busy roads, going the wrong way in heavy traffic, jumping red lights, honking needlessly etc etc are things one does not need schooling in, to understand that they are wrong. And even the perpetrators of these violations get irked by people who do the very same things.

Basically, no one is an angel here...people may claim ignorance of the law etc etc, but the fact is that you don't need to be a genius to understand that going the wrong way on a busy road is incorrect and dangerous.

I call this inconsiderate and lazy, because it is an extension of our mentality as a nation; you can liken it to the neighbours dumping trash on the road and not giving a damn about it, as long as their house remains clean.

Keeping yourself and your family safe is obviously the most sensible thing to do and trust me, that is my primary objective also.

We made these videos not to earn money or gain popularity, but rather to make people understand that speaking up usually solves the problem. That's it.

You will see, that most of the violators in the video, are not gangsters or ruffians - they are common people like you and me, who CHOSE to take advantage of the fact that no-one speaks up in this country of ours. When their mistake was pointed out, most of them were apologetic and quick to make amends.

That said, I respect your decision to keep a low profile and not get involved in this kind of direct action. Even following rules to the best of one's ability, is good enough and contributes to the overall progress of the nation.

Originally Posted by ankurchaturvedi

Thank you! Thank you very much for this. Direct action is what is needed with the Mumbai traffic. May i join you the next time you make such a video?

ads1485 - Thanks ankurchaturvedi Yes, sure thing. I'll PM you the next time we are going out and we can work out a suitable arrangement to meet. Thanks again for your support!

[alphadog]

Originally Posted by ads1485

I call this inconsiderate and lazy, because it is an extension of our mentality as a nation; you can liken it to the neighbours dumping trash on the road and not giving a damn about it, as long as their house remains clean.

Keeping yourself and your family safe is obviously the most sensible thing to do and trust me, that is my primary objective also.

We made these videos not to earn money or gain popularity, but rather to make people understand that speaking up usually solves the problem. That's it.


That said, I respect your decision to keep a low profile and not get involved in this kind of direct action. Even following rules to the best of one's ability, is good enough and contributes to the overall progress of the nation.

Originally Posted by alphadog

Biggest factor : Lack of regard for other road users, selfish and boorish mentality and sab chaltha hai attitude!.

I do applaud what you are doing and wish that more of us had the gall and guts to try and do something proactively to make a change.
I guess sometimes naming and shaming is needed.

As I said, in my previous post, the biggest factor is indeed selfish mentality and care a damn attitude of these people. I am just concerned that without the support of the law enforcers, there is a possibility that the situation could turn ugly, if one of those who is challenged on the roads, lashes out 'cos his/her ego gets hurt in front of the public.

But, from my heart - keep up the good work!

[ads1485]

Originally Posted by alphadog

I am just concerned that without the support of the law enforcers, there is a possibility that the situation could turn ugly, if one of those who is challenged on the roads, lashes out 'cos his/her ego gets hurt in front of the public.
But, from my heart - keep up the good work!

Thanks alphadog Your support is truly appreciated. Knowing that people are for initiatives like this, give us the momentum to power on.

As for official support, I'm going to start approaching the authorities soon. Doing this without official sanction does carry risk and we were all well aware of it, but had to go ahead and do it anyway, since the support comes easier when one is presented with hard action, rather than a theory.

With the support of guys like yourself and the likes, shares and comments the videos receive on Facebook and YouTube, the authorities will be more compelled to take us seriously.

We've had a few ugly encounters already, but I've decided not to publish them right now, since we don't need the controversy at this stage. With official sanction and more public support, we'll be able to make more of a change.

Cheers/Ad

[GTO]

I see you guys made it to the newspaper!

Source: Mid-Day.com

You can run, but you can't hide... from Mamoo Patrol. Three friends from Andheri have banded together to nail traffic offenders and “confront the lack of civic sense” on the roads through non-confrontational candid videos. The videos, shot for web series Mamoo Patrol, are a cheeky hat tip to our notorious propensity for breaching traffic norms and tolerance of such flippant offenders.

The group, which has uploaded two videos on its YouTube channel and Facebook page since September 29 -- both titled Slang -- has been inspired by Russian non-profit organisation StopHam (Stop a Douchebag), which opposes traffic rule violations and arrogance on the road.

[ads1485]

Originally Posted by GTO

I see you guys made it to the newspaper!

Yes, we got covered a couple of days ago. You may be hearing a bit more about us from a few other news outlets too. Stay tuned!

[sujit_as7]

Nice video mate! Now please do come to Kerala as well! You can tape some hilarious moments on road

[swarnava.m]

Originally Posted by ads1485

...Stay tuned!

This is an excellent initiative. Already shared your videos on several social media channels, tagged other handles with more exposure who have already re-shared it their followers. Plus you got DNA coverage!! This is great!!

As a person who is FOREVER complaining about the state of traffic affairs in this city, I am feeling bad about the fact that I did not think of doing something like this myself sooner. Maybe I just lacked the drive to take time off my schedule and contribute. Kudos to you for taking this step.

Here are a few inputs from my side:

• It would be immensely helpful in terms of creating individual impact, if you could profusely thank each person who listens to you, owes up to their mistake and makes the necessary correction. A loud shout out "THANK YOU!!" would go miles. This is from personal experience of observing general human behavior.
• I saw all 3 videos, and am a little surprised at the lack of aggresiveness from the offenders. I was expecting more people would react along the lines of "Who are you? Why are you shooting a video without my permission?" (That's unlawful BTW, IIRC)

Seeing that you guys are from Andheri, I would like to join in and contribute to your endeavor. Will contact you via PM.

[ads1485]

Originally Posted by sujit_as7

Nice video mate! Now please do come to Kerala as well! You can tape some hilarious moments on road

Thanks sujit, we'd like to go wherever the mamoos are hopefully we can motivate more people to start similar movements in their cities.

Originally Posted by swarnava.m

This is an excellent initiative. Already shared your videos on several social media channels, tagged other handles with more exposure who have already re-shared it their followers. Plus you got DNA coverage!! This is great!!
Seeing that you guys are from Andheri, I would like to join in and contribute to your endeavor. Will contact you via PM.

Thank you for the appreciation and the shares, swarnava.m

Noted your points - we do thank people regularly - we also don't publish a lot of footage of people, who are usually polite and are not blatant about their misdemeanours - the objective is to educate and correct, not shame people needlessly. The guys who make it to the videos are usually doing something which is obviously unlawful and causes a lot of inconvenience to others.

As for the legality of it, there is a misconception that all public filming requires a permit in India.

This is not true. A permit is required for filming that is liable to cause inconvenience to the public (setting up equipment which impedes movement, blocking roads etc etc) or if the filming is to take place in a restricted zone, or involve equipment like drones etc.

We film people with their full knowledge and further more, NONE of the Mamoo Patrol videos are monetized - we are not making any money off these videos and don't intend to, either. Furthermore, we are filming people who are committing traffic violations and putting us and others at risk - so we are well within our legal rights to film these people.

I received your PM - thank you for the offer of help. I will get in touch with you shortly and we can take things forward from there.

We are going to be meeting with the authorities in a couple of days and will hopefully get some official support for this initiative.

------

On another note, I'd like to thank the mods for featuring this thread on Team-BHP's Facebook page - thanks a ton!

Besides Mid Day, we also got covered by RJ Malishka of RedFM, who gave us some much needed good press and publicity and also on Fever 104 FM. Hope the winning streak continues!

Thank you all, will keep you guys updated with the progress!

[Fraz33r]

I am not very active on Social media; But i liked the initiative. I saw the first webisode on Team-BHP and others were pointed by an unknown source outside TBHP. Hence adding it here for anyone who has missed these subsequent vids.

Kudos to you guys for "Being the Change" . I do believe this should be part of the Moral Science Class we used to have in school. Its important for the future generations to know , what rules are and why they need to be followed. "Jugaad" is not the real way out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmJoLoJVtL8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUMfdizPCpw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IdtyY-lBFI

[condor]

Kudos, guys !!
Needs more than patience and courage to do something like this !

One question - are these guys this quiet because of the camera ?

[CAPTAIN REX]

Originally Posted by ads1485

krackr, I honestly feel that no step is too small or ineffective, when it goes to creating awareness.

Once people become aware and understand that there are others who have the same sentiments as them, the movement gathers momentum and a change in thinking is imminent.

This is one real good initiative. I have been following your videos since the first one, and they have been good, and with a motive to educate the wrong doers and let them know the correct ways of riding/driving.

Watched the 4th episode a few days back. I do not know if any one feels they way I do, but the fourth episode seems to have lost the charm.
It now appears more of just making a video, commanding people to 'turn around', 'take U turn', 'we are working with Police', instead of educating the wrong doers. I have noticed that the bikers are turning around after the order 'Take U turn', thinking that the road ahead of them is blocked, and not realizing that they asked to do so because they were riding in the wrong direction.
And the last bike guy, in a yellow t-shirt, what a helmet he wore. As good as not wearing one, but you asked him to just turn around. A word on his helmet would have made him think about that too, and not just riding on the wrong side.

Once again kudos on the good job of educating the wrong doers on the road, and hoping that this not turn into an ego issue.